Customer Reviews

Music From the Body

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Not for the faint-hearted listener, this 1970 soundtrack album to a medical documentary entitled "The Body" was created by avant-garde composer Ron Geesin & Pink Floyd bassist/singer/composer Roger Waters (Geesin & Waters would work together again on Pink Floyd's "Atom Heart Mother," but "Music From The Body" was their first joint project). The album is pretty wild stuff to say the least, with lots of experimental sounds, instrumentation, vocals and effects. The wonderfully goofy opening cut, "Our Song," with it's rhythmic sound collage of clapping, belching, farting and baby noises (accompanied by ragtime piano, no less!), pretty much prepares you for what will follow. But in between Geesin's far-out pieces (other highlights include the vocal experiments of "More Than Seven Dwarfs...", the spooky "Body Transport," and the fun "Mrs. Throat Goes Walking"), Roger Waters drops in to play some very nice, simple acoustic numbers, like "Sea Shell And Stone," "Chain Of Life," and "Breathe" (a very different song from the "Breathe" that appeared later on Floyd's classic "Dark Side Of The Moon," although it shares the same opening lyric: "Breathe in the air"). Finally, the rest of Pink Floyd themselves---David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright---join Waters at the album's end for the uplifting finale, "Give Birth To A Smile." "Music From The Body" is definitely not an album to play at a party, but if you're a diehard fan of early Pink Floyd, then I think you'll enjoy this weird, wonderful record from Ron Geesin & Roger Waters.

If you are one who believes that music ought to be made with guitar, bass, drums and maybe some keyboards only. DO NOT BUY THIS CD!!! However, if you are open to music which is made utilizing natural sounds and processes these sounds to express musical ideas then this cd may be for you. Much of the cd is expressed utilizing ideas and techniques commonly found in avante garde, musique concrete and electoacoustic soundscapes. Sometimes beautiful, sometimes abstract and dark this often overlooked cd takes you on a journey to places previously unknown and some more familiar places. Individual breakdowns of songs would be pointless since this work is meant to be taken as a whole. The acoustic moments where Roger accompanies himself are great and are juxtaposed against the more abstract pieces brilliantly. To sum it up... If you are a fan of Floyd's leaning towards the abstract (ie found in sections of Atom Heart Mother, Ummagumma) then you will probably be pleased with this cd. If your favorite Pink Floyd song is Money or Comfortably Numb, and listen to predominantly 70's classic rock, you probably will want to stay away from this one

I've been all my life a fan of Pink Floyd and its members. The first time I listened to this album was an incredible experience, I really felt I was travelling through a body, and believe me, if the sperms are travelling like "more than seven dwarfs in penis land" what a wonderful life they must have.
An excellent try for those who are Floydian fans, or Progressive rock fans. If you'd like to experiment alone a marvelous journey, TRY IT NOW.

A great companion disc to Atom Heart Mother on which Ron Geesin also collaborated. Songs range from sound effects to songs like "Sea Shell and Stone" similar to grantchester meadows (on Ummagumma studio album). "Body transport" is very amusing.

Highly recommended for anyone who liked Atom Heart Mother

I won't repeat what other reviewers have already said so eleqeuntly about this (a-hem) Ron Geesin album, but I will add that while this recording may be of limited appeal to those who do not dabble in experimental music, Floyd fans withstanding, it is a what I would call a musical box of tiny chocolates where some of them taste weird, but you are at least glad you tried it. My only disappointment with this album is that the tracks are just too short. There are dozens of moments where things sound brilliant, but with the exception of the three traditional length songs on here (Water numbers of course) every moment is fleeting. Maybe that is the point or maybe it is just because this was a soundtrack.

And it was Ron Geesin who put him there. I'm always disappointed when I hear a Floyd fan rag on this album. It's one of my favorite records of all time, easily beating out ALL of the Floyd material from around this time. After Syd, the Floyd got boring until Meddle. Somewhere around Ummagumma, Waters started hanging around Scottish experimental composer and all-around eccentric Ron Geesin. This album is billed as a collaborative effort, but it's pretty evenly split between Waters' morbid lullabyes and Geesin's outrageous compositions for body parts, string quartet, guitar and tape loop, spoken word... Do you like "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict"? You'll swear Roger swiped that track wholesale from Geesin after hearing this record. But the record is enjoyable for more than 'being weird'. There are beautiful compositions sprinkled throughout, and even the soppy Roger "Did I tell you my dad died in the war?" Waters tunes are pleasant enough. Please, everyone, give this record a chance! Listen to it as an artifact completely detatched from Pink Floyd. It takes chances that few records take, and it rewards repeated listens.

Roger Waters of Pink Floyd's first solo album was a collaboration with avant garde musician Ron Geesin entitled Music From the Body released in November of 1970 in the UK and was to be released in the US but Capitol Records rejected it at the time and the album didn't get a US release until the 1980s on a small independent label.
Roger Waters was the first member of the classic lineup to release a solo effort and was a collaboration with Scottish composer Ron Geesin whom worked with Waters on Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother album also released in 1970.
If you like Amused to Death or Pros and Cons, prepare for disappointment as this album is not like other solo projects he has done. However, if you liked Pink Floyd's most avant garde material like Atom Heart Mother and the Ummagumma studio album, you are in for a treat.
Roger has a few songs interspersed amongst the sound effects heavy Ron Geesin tracks.
Roger's "Sea Shell and Stone" and "Chain of Life" are acoustic pieces that would have fit well on the More album by Floyd. "Breathe" is an early take of "Breathe in the Air" on Dark Side of the Moon but with different lyrics and the music of Sea Shell and Stone. Roger's last song on the album was "Give Birth to a Smile" which featured Waters' bandmates David Gilmour on guitar, Nick Mason on drums and Rick Wright on keyboards.
Some of the instrumentals like "Our Song" have Roger and Ron working together. Not a bad solo effort but not for everyone.

"Music From The Body" takes you on a marvelous musical journey through twenty-two compositions. The Body was a medical documentary directed by Roy Battersby and produced by Tony Garnett in 1970. Sound experimentalist Ron Geesin collaborated with progressive-rocker Roger Waters to release this twisted auditory exploration of the human body. "More Than Seven Dwarfs In Penis-Land" and "Mrs. Throat Goes Walking" explore the bizarre world of vocal manipulations. In addition, members of Pink Floyd join the duo for the soundtrack finale "Give Birth To A Smile".

This is album belongs almost entirely to Ron Geesin and it's misleading to give Roger Waters equal billing, so Floyd fans, reconsider. Roger contributed four of the songs, and three of those are the same tune with different lyrics. That said, I'm a big Pink Floyd and Roger Waters fan, but that didn't stop this album from being one of my favorites. With the exception of the Roger tunes, it's entirely instrumental (or at least wordless), with string duets, looped chanting, and other stuff I can't begin to identify. It manages to be highly experimental without being pointless or grating on the ears. Most of Ron's other stuff escapes me, but not so here. Just to clear up any confusion from one of the other comments, it was after Dark Side of the Moon that Floyd considered recording an album sans musical instruments, and that was scraped to record Wish You Were Here, not Animals. Regardless, Music From the Body was recorded half a decade earlier, prior to Pink Floyd's Ummagumma. Several Species from Ummagumma is probably the closest you'll come to find anything that sounds like Floyd on this album (though I believe Give Birth to a Smile does feature all of the Floyd members), but in my opinion, Floyd's attempt to impersonate The Body didn't come close.

Unless you are really into Pink Floyd's most avant garde stuff (Atom Heart Mother and the Ummagumma studio album), you are unlikely to listen to this more than a couple of times. It gives only a little bit more insight as to what Pink Floyd would become. The other soundtrack albums from that period (including the often-overlooked Zabriskie Point) do much better in this regard. It has almost absolutely nothing in common with the material he wrote after The Dark Side of the Moon. If you are a Pink Floyd completist, go ahead and get it, but you will probably find that it compares with Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports as the least important Pink Floyd solo album.