1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad

The Music Tapes | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 13, 1999)
• Original Release Date: July 6, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Merge Records
• ASIN: B00000J69Y
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #219,277 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliance in Seclusion, November 14, 2003

By 

Blackberries (PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad (Audio CD)

Length - 41:39

Complexity mired in dreamy obfuscation palled by chamber pop excursions shadowed under alienated childhood experiences renders 1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad, an incredible, emotive collage of musical palpitations and transcendental imagination. The seemingly terse 41 minutes of aural estrangement is, in fact, a very long, spirally road traversing the aforementioned realms of sadness and despair with an eerie optimism. To coalesce efflorescent pop with a concept as in-depth and bizarre as the one created by the Music Tapes is nothing short of a miracle. This album is an incredible accomplishment in terms of music and art, a genuine work of pleasing melodies and offsetting stories held together by a remote, yet radiating warmth and compassion. People inured to mainstream, by-the-book music will likely be unresponsive to this record, so I implore you, like the previous reviewers, to keep an open mind and an open heart while experiencing this. Let it seep in, and you will have a new appreciation for this other-worldly music. (In addition to the album, the magnificent packaging includes a comic book, a strange cardboard standup piece and a list of other 1999 summer/fall merge records releases)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great album, March 24, 2005

By 

Christopher J. Healey (Sydney) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad (Audio CD)

I am a sucker for the odd ball side of music. Elephant 6 just happens to be possee of people who manage to cater to my aural desires.
I have owned this album for a couple of years and after a slow start have finally conceded defeat.

Music tapes won.

I reckon I tried not to like this album , it was weird and alien track 12 and 13 seemed to go on too long at first . But what they do is lull you, meander along over stay their welcome for good reasons, to set you up for the emotional finale .
The first time i heard the album the end of it made me teary .No joke , and I was never a real superman fan , I much prefered batman.
The sounds fit together almost seemlessly ( which is a huge effort) the tunes are as catchy as hell and the sound collages are a delight . The album gets a cofident 5 stars.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strikingly unique and ingenius, yet only for the open-minded, September 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: 1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad (Audio CD)

This is a very enjoyable record from the resident oddball of the Elephant Six collective- current Neutral Milk Hotel member and ex-Chocolate USA leader Julian Koster and his gang of misfits known as the Music Tapes. The album opens with the sounds of what one can conclude to be Koster's favorite instrument - the singing saw. From there, numerous odd sounds and random noises such as wax cylinder pops clutter the record, making it at times seem like more of a sound collage than an actual album. Things are made more clear when you read along with the accompanying comic strip. Once you get to a certain point, though, the strip ends and all you can do is listen- the album's conclusion is both heartbreaking and amazing. Julian Koster is among the most underrated songwriter/storytellers that you're likely to come across in this era of music. It's just a shame that this masterpiece will be completely overlooked by the majority of music listeners. Nice packaging, too. :)