Customer Reviews

UFO Tofu

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In a world of carefully marketed, nondescript, written-for-radio music, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones are the proverbial breath of fresh air. Some will give the disc a cursory listen, debate about what category to file it under, and completely miss the point. It's not about doing what's been done. It's not about following trends. Above all, it's not radio-friendly. Flecktones fans wll love this record for the same reason they love every Flecktone release. It's inventive, fun, emotional, and brilliantly played. For the uninitiated, the group consists of banjo master Bela Fleck, bassist Victor Wooten, his brother Roy (also known as Future Man) on what he calls a synthaxe drumitar (basically a handheld electronic percussion unit), and harmonica and keyboard innovator Howard Levy. Coming from bluegrass, jazz, pop, and folk backgrounds, they quite simply create some of the most intriguing music around. Unfortunately, fewer people hear of this band than should, in large part due to the fact that retailers can't easily categorize them and radio programmers don't know what to think of them. For the adventurous music lover looking for something real, however, this could be just the thing.

This was the first Flecktones album that I heard, and I must say it was a memorable expirience. A friend threw this album into the CD, player and what followed was a religious and life altering experience. The first thing i said was "Is that a banjo?" The answer: "Yes... that my friend is Bela Fleck" My second comment: "who is that bass player?" the answer "Victor Wooten." This album will redefine all musical classifications for new listeners, and if your stereo is good enough, it will shake the very earth you stand on. Perhaps this album is my favorite flecktones album because it was my first love, but in reality the others are just as good. The flecktones are unsurpassed in all ways. If they come to your area check them out live, because the albums, while awsome, are just the tip of the flecktone iceburg

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones wowwed us in 1990 with their self-titled album. Incorporating banjo, harmonica, bass and a drum synthesiser, their music hints of Bela's Bluegrass roots and then proceeded to take us into uncharted territory. Calling this group Jazz-Fusion would only serve to over-simplify what they are doing.

There is a whimsey to their music. It never gets so heavy as to border on the unlistenable, as so many of their Jazz-Fusion compratiots are doing. Fleck has taken the banjo into areas that the banjo has never gone before, while still remaining distinctly a banjo. The Wooten Brothers on bass and drum synethiser lay down the basis of some of the most icredible music you will ever hear. Howard Levy on harmonica is rewriting the book ever time he picks up his instrument. In the community of harmonica players, Howard Levy is Prometheus, showing all of us the lack of boundaries that the harmonica actually has.

Levy takes the simple diatonic harmonica, an instrument not built with sharps and flats and plays every note imaginable. Notes that were never built into the instruments come flying fluidly out of the harmonica when Howard plays. There is little wonder that whole week-long teaching seminars have sprung up around Howard's playing. I've had the good fortune to attend one of these week-long teach-ins and I was left completely dazed.
Howard is thinking so far out of the box as to make the restrictions of the instrument seem mythical.

I strongly urge any fan of Jazz, banjo, harmonica or just music in general to give this album a listen. It's incredible.

This album displays an unclassifiable, amazing, virtuosic band playing at their best(Well, maybe not, they're better live)! Bela Fleck takes the banjo to places it has never been before. He moves the instrument beyond bluegrass into such realms as jazz, rock, and funk. He is brilliant and innovative in all these styles and more. In addition, he is a skilled composer, in which he once again spans every style imaginable.

Victor Wooten, the bassist, is by far the best in the world. If you are impressed by Les Claypool, listen to Victor. Claypool is doubtless great, but he cannot come close to the virtuosity displayed by Victor Wooten. He utilizes revolutionary playing techniques to play unbelievable solos, as well as making it sound like multiple bassists are playing.

Howard Levy plays harmonica, piano, whistle, and synthesizer. He frequently plays more than one at a time, and while he is proficient on all of these instruments, he is most impressive on the harmonica. Every time this guy plays harmonica, he wows me. He coaxes sounds from the instrument that it was never designed to play, while making it sound smooth and beautiful.

The groove is anchored by Roy "Futureman" Wooten, who plays both a traditional drum set and his own invention, the Synth Axe Drumitar. The Synth Axe Drumitar is a guitar like instrument that Futureman can use to play virtually any percussive sound. He frequently plays both the Drumitar and a traditional drum kit at the same time.

From the funky bass line of "Sex in a Pan" to the high octane bluegrass of "The Yee Haw Factor" the Flecktones prove that they are an unstoppable band.

This is the first Bela Fleck and the Flecktones album I had ever listend to. This album is perhaps the most amazing album I have ever heard. The tightness of the group, the flailing technique of the quartet, is beyond my imagination. Where in any other group do you have the Bass god Vic Wooten, A world renowned banjo player, and quite possibly the best harmonica player who walked the face of this earth. Buy this ALBUM!!!

It broke my heart to see only 4 stars as the average for this album, so I, as a Flecktone fanatic, had to do my part to get this to the deserved 5-star mark. This may be the best Flecktone album ever, and it certainly is the best from the era with harmonica/piano/miscellaneous virtuoso Howard Levy. "The West County" is a good opener, with a wall of futuristic drum synth, a complicated banjo line, and bass that will shake your soul, thus setting the appropriate "beautifully complex future music" mood for the album. "Sex In a Pan" is an offering from the hands-down god of all bassists, Victor Wooten, and so it takes things more into the realm of smooth funk. "Nemo's Dream" puts the ball back in Bela's court, and no musician around could make something this strange sound so deceptively pretty. "Bonnie & Slyde" is another pretty number, but more in the traditional and detectably Nashville (it features a slide banjo) sense. "Scuttlebutt" is a fireball of complex funk jazz that will make you smile and breakdance at the same time. The title track is perhaps the most awe-inspiring composition ever attempted by the Flecktones, featuring superfast airtight comp and imitative polyphonic runs on all instruments to weave a dizzying web of musical palindromes that HAS to blow your mind, as long as you have ears. "Magic Fingers" is another neat song, and if by this point you are somehow still in denial of the virtuosity of Bela & co., you won't be for much longer. "True North," another fav of mine, takes a direction towards the worldier sound that seems to show up more on the newest Flecktone albums. "Life Without Elvis" is pretty weird, but it always makes me smile. "Seresta," a Levy composition, is a Spanish number with a neat tapped bass line; it is decent, but not an album highlight. "The Yee-Haw Factor" picks things back up to the pitch that "Scuttlebutt" had in the middle, with a brilliant (of course) bluegrass banjo part being turbo-charged by Victor's thunderous funk... oh yeah, and a little islandy break with tin flute to chill you out at various points along the way. "After The Storm" is the smooth finisher, and it is, to me, one of the sweetest and yet most haunting songs I have ever heard. I never listen to this song without being in a place where I can close my eyes, open my mind, and give it the full attention it deserves. If you've never heard the Flecktones, start out with "LIVE ART" as a perfect introduction; but once you're intoduced, check out UFO TOFU, and you may not have such a hard time deciding what you're favorite band of all time is anymore.

One star? Really? You really gave a Flecktones album one star? You think this album is as bad as any music can possibly be?

I have been a fan of Bela and friends for many years, and UFO TOFU was the album that put them on the map for me, and it is still my favorite. I have purchased this CD at least 4 times in my life due to scratches, breakages, or losses, and I would pay for it again and again if I had to.

This is a sweet and beautiful album filled with some of the most amazing melodies, riffs, and downright incredible musicianship. I find myself humming 'UFO TOFU' or 'Sex in a Pan' at the most random times in my life - I will never be able to get the songs from this album out of my head, and I would never want to.

Bela Fleck isn't really pigioned holed into one particular catagory. Kind of a Blue Grass/Country Rock band. Fine musicians and good arrangements. A great change of pace.

One of the myriad of fine material record by the group, this CD saw the last time Howard Levy recorded as a member of the band, marking an the close of the first era of the Flecktones' history. Its material is stylistically very similar to Hippo and the album's sound can be treated more as a continuation of that artistic endeavor instead of a fresher musical approach. This would be a bad thing if the work on hippo wasn't so wonderful. The title track, UFO TOFU, is a brilliant composition which uses motiffs build on palindromes to create cycles of notes that seemingly spiral through each of the phrases. The album as a whole geniusly applies a plethora of well-advanced theoretical ideas to each song. For Fleck fans, theory afficionados, and the general music appreciating consumer.

I don't need to say much more than this.... I have thousands of albums in my library (including rock, jazz and classical), and this would have to be a candidate for my favorite album of all time. The song-writing is beautiful and the instrumentation is mind-boggling. Just wonderful music....