Grand Opening & Closing

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 12, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: The End Records
• ASIN: B000H4JGZE
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,107 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Greg Prato - All Music Guide

the album sticks out like a sore thumb among what the majority of typical rock music

Product Description

Reissue and Expansion of the 2001 debut from Rock Against Rock pioneers, including 2 unrelased songs and a live bonus recorded by the new line-up.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunningly good avant-rock., January 22, 2003

By 

Lord Chimp (Monkey World) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grand Opening & Closing (Audio CD)

Imagine, if you, can a cross of King Crimon's _Thrak_, GWAR, early Thinking Plague, and the Art Bears (SGM's Carla sounds somewhat like a sweeter Dagmar Krause too) played by demonic midgets ripped on peyote wailing away on a panoply of homemade instruments.

Okay...you're part way to what Sleepytime Gorilla Museum unleashes on this album. Truly, this ensemble is in a league of its own and even the above description will only scratch the surface. I love it - currently this is one of the best avant-garde rock albums I have.

I will try not to pull a cheap cop-out on the reviewing job with a "this is too hard to describe" line. The music here is wickedly dense and challenging, full of discordant bursts, twisted arrangements, texture to drown in, thick waves of percussion (::gasp::), crashing metal, bewildering contrapuntal interplay, and provocative 20th century classical influences. It's noisy without being abrasive, and challenging without being hard to listen to. Vocals run from sugar-sweet (Carla Kihlstredt) to the throaty male aggressiveness (whoever the lead male voice is). From the spooky-to-crashing dynamics of "Ablutions", the raucous thrashing of "1997", the fractured RIO/indie of "The Stain"... this record oozes ingenuity and brilliance out of every pore. The skeptical may find it tough to take these guys seriously, but this is really quite cerebral and fascinating music. And if you think it's all scary-weird stuff, "Sunflower" is surprising -- just eight minutes of dreamy, sparse ambiance that barely even seems to make sound. Really beautiful but strange. The one-minute "The Miniature" is quite a pretty interlude as well.

This is the kind of music that most will hate and few will love. I am one of the few. I would kill to see their live show as everyone who sees it says it is disgustingly good. So I recommend you try and check that out as well even though I can't personally vouch for it. Hwrah! _Grand Opening and Closing_ is an album to pick up -- it could better than anything you've bought lately.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real soul shattering experience, November 17, 2004

By 

Blue Collar (Murfreesboro, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grand Opening & Closing (Audio CD)

This album caught me totally by surprise.
Granted, I didn't really know what I was walking into when I picked it up, it was only a recommendation from a friend who listens to good music. Now you won't have to be surprised; just go ahead and get this album.

This band is truly pushing experimental music in new directions. I say experimental, but it's really mostly rock of the progressive kind, very angular and often heavy, but solid. The musicianship of these people blows my mind regularly. From the first off-kilter notes of the first song, "Sleep is Wrong" (a killer tune about growing up) you can tell that they have put a LOT of time into writing, and then a lot more into perfecting their recordings.

There is definitely a lot of metal influence, but I can't call it metal because it is more intricate and even beautiful than any music that calls itself metal. Also could be said to have jazz influence, but mostly in how the music is painstakingly and dynamically arranged.

In other words, this album is hard to describe. But is is sooo damn good.

After seeing this band live I am convinced that in the future we will look back on this band as one who created and personified a whole movement of music; Sleepytime Gorilla Museum are the new Futurists.

I would recommend this album to anyone who appreciates daring experimental music (such as Mike Patton or John Zorn), or to anyone who likes their rock heavy and interesting (like Shellac or Nine Inch Nails), or to anyone at all, ever. This band will command your attention.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Experimental rock at it's finest, September 2, 2003

By 

Raldante McGillis (Laurel, Montana United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grand Opening & Closing (Audio CD)

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum will frighten you the first time you listen to "Grand Opening and Closing", in fact, to anyone that considers Radiohead "the pinnacle of experimental rock" (hey man, got nothing against them, but they are hardly experimental), I advise you just stay away from this album.

Like a perfect mix of 70's and Thrak era King Crimson, The Residents, and Thinking Plague. SGM could best be described as Avant Prog, long winding "songs" that act more as collages of sound balance out the main pieces of music like Sleep is Wrong and 1997. And for the average music fan, this will be annoying as it gets. But for every listen you give the album, more of it becomes amazing to you.

Also, check out the past bands of some of the memebers, Idiot Flesh and Tin Hat Trio. Idiot Flesh is more like SGM, but Tin Hat Trio I would describe as Tom Waits influenced Chamber Jazz. Very good stuff.