Grand Guignol [Import]

John Zorn, Naked City | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 20, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Avant Japan
• ASIN: B0000058V5
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #156,479 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #67 in Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Avant-Garde

Track Listings

1. Grand Guignol

2. La Cathédrale Engloutie

3. Three Preludes Op. 74: Douloureus, Déchirant

4. Three Preludes Op. 74: Très Lent, Contemplatif

5. Three Preludes Op. 74: Allegro Drammatico

6. Prophetiae Sybillarum

7. The Cage

8. Louange Á l'Éternité de Jésus

9. Blood Is Thin

10. Thrash Jazz Assassin

11. Dead Spot

12. Bonehead

13. Piledriver

14. Shangkuan Ling-Feng

15. Numbskull

16. The Prestidigitator

17. Hellraiser

18. Torture Garden

19. The Ways of Pain

20. Sack of Shit

See all 29 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for the faint-hearted, October 21, 2000

By 

Allan MacInnis (Vancouver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grand Guignol (Audio CD)

Amazon seem not to be showing the art for this CD. Wonder if that has anything to do with the severed head that graces the cover - apparently an archival photo from god-knows-where. No doubt Zorn collects this sorta stuff. Other cover art on the insert include lots of severed limbs and an image of doctors dissecting a corpse. The music is suitably dark and sick. The Grand Guignol, if you don't know -- don't worry, I didn't either, til recently -- was a notorious theatre in France where you could see these really bloody, gory, sensationalistic plays that featured stuff like autopsies on stage, brutal murders, etc. -- sort of a real-life version of the Theatre of Vampires in Rice's (or Jordan's, if you prefer) INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE. Audience members often fainted, vomited, or fled performances there. The name of the theatre has come to refer to a certain brand of over-the-top, garish shlock. Using this as the conceptual starting point, Naked City fashion a dark, brooding, disturbing CD that references contemporary classical music more than a lot of their output, including really nice takes on compositions by Messiaen and Debussy, and the lengthy title cut, composed by the band -- a fifteen minute or so chamber of musical horrors, with the feel of a Satanic circus. Then, though this isn't really noted anywhere, once the dark, brooding stuff is over, you're treated to the WHOLE OF the TORTURE GARDEN CD, which had been pulled from distribution 'cos of the grotesque Japanese cover art (Asian man peeling off the face of a young girl to lick her exposed eyeball). TORTURE GARDEN, of course, is more of that hysterical speedmetal thrash that Zorn loves so much (and that can be kinda taxing to listen to). Titles include "The Ways of Pain," "Thrash Jazz Assassin," "New Jersey Scum Swamp" and more. This is about as dangerous a Zorn CD as you're likely to be able to listen to (to distinguish it, say, from JUDE and other such dangerous Zorn CDs that no one I know is able to listen to.) But, uh, not for the faint-hearted. Jazz snobs may not like some of the advice Zorn gives'em on this disc, either.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely sublime., January 25, 2000

By 

John G Wagner (Pensacola, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grand Guignol (Audio CD)

Message to John Zorn/Naked City fans: this is the import CD to waste your money on-- a dark mysterious nugget, an almost alien experience. As an added bonus, the third part of the CD is almost the complete Torture Garden sessions.

File under Music for Performing Vivisection.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intense and brilliant, October 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Grand Guignol (Audio CD)

Grand Guignol is a wonderful album. It contains three very different sides to Naked City. First there is the long title track which features a lot of sustained guitar and percussive madness. Next, Zorn arranges classical pieces by Debussy, Scriabin, Messaien, Di Lassus and Ives, all doing the originals justice, especially Debussy's "La Cathedrale Engloutie" and Scriabin's Preludes Opus 74. The third and final section is 34 pieces of Zorn's famous "thrash jazz" - kind of a thrash metal/jazz hybrid with absolutely everything else in between. The best thing about Naked City is the fantastic musicians - Zorn's singing/squealing sax, Bill Frisell's ever-so-versatile guitar playing, the funky Wayne Horvitz on keyboards, the amazingly talented Fred Frith on bass and godlike drummer Joey Baron. Who could ask for more? Well, there's also guest vocalists Yamatsuka Eye and Bob Dorough. An absolute highlight is "Speedfreaks", which attempts to merge over 20 different musical styles in about 45 seconds! Check this album out if you want something new and exciting.