Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
In The Studio, January 19, 2005
I had the unique pleasure of being on hand for the birth of this masterpiece. I owned the recording studio (White Crow) where it was recorded in Vermont. In the studio's twelve year life, this project took the cake as the most creative we experienced. (Others included Phish and Alice Cooper) The album was completely conceived in the studio, melodies and rhythms being invented in the lounge over lunch without instruments. When something began to cook, these three mad scientists sprinted into the studio and began putting it down.
Torn's guitar collection for the session was only to be outdone by Bozzio's "drum kit" which arrived in a 24-foot truck and took up most of the main studio. Among other things, Bozzio set up two octaves of roto toms so that he could trade melodies with Torn. That's the level these guys were operating on.
Polytown continues to be one of my favorite recordings.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A One Off Tour de Force, May 11, 2000
What happens when you take Zappa alum Terry Bozzio, former Japan bassist Mick Karn, and avante-god David Torn? A wild sonic ride through something that has pieces of jazz, pan-ethnic fusion, and instrumental prowess that few can touch. The compositions are sharp and well produced, with ample space to hear Karns fluid Middle Eastern style fretless work, as well as Bozzio doing some phenomenal orchestration for percussion.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond description., April 12, 2005
"Polytown" is one of those projects that you sort of hope would evolve into something more-- this trio, guitarist David Torn, bassist Mick Karn, and drummer Terry Bozzio, produced such a superb record of instrumental music that you couldn't help but wish there was a followup, but this is all we got.
And its quite a statement-- the three of them play together fantastically-- not a surprise given they'd worked together extensively-- the music has an improvised feel to it, even in obviously composed passages, the music has a nice looseness and spaciousness to it-- Bozzio in particular seem really open with his playing-- whereas most "rock" drummers (although calling this music that) tend to play themselves into a wall, space is critical on this record-- check out the brilliant "Snail Hair Dune" for a good example of this-- Torn and Karn largely play single note lines while Bozzio implies as well as states.
With this looseness, the album covers a number of sounds and feels-- the playing is superb, and there's really not a bad track on here, but some stand out-- the great "Honey Sweating", with Torn's guitar blasts, the slow, funky "Bandaged by Dreams" (with one of my favorite Karn basslines), percussion driven "Warrior Horsemen of the Spirit Thundering Over Hills of Doubt to a Place of Hope" and the simply brilliant "Red Sleep" all come to mind.
Any fan of either of these three gentlemen will love this album-- its certainly amongst the best work by each of them, but I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys improvised music and great musicianship.
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by David Torn 
