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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ennio Morricone if he were hindu mutant rockabilly surf-God!, September 28, 2004
This is sheer brilliance. If you love Bungle's "Desert Search for Techno Allah," then you'll blag your pants over this! It's far more compressed and tight than other Secret Chiefs releases. Thematically, each track builds and refines and improvises upon each other, reinforcing the intensity.
Tr 1 is a straightforward, Middle eastern/Spanish sounding melody of lament. So Morricone that it hurts. Also calls to mind (the horn and cello?) the melody line from the 2nd move of the concierto de aranjuez- at least to these ears. lasts about 2.5 minutes. Great intro to what folllows!
Tr 2 is a thrashed out charging attack on the same melodic idea, with a throbbing surf-backbeat. Nuts!!!!
Tr 3 twitters and squeaks and then a twangy reverbed surf guitar and drum beat pick up where 2 left off. MORE NUTS!!!!
Tr 4 begins with more twang and also soft middle eastern type instrumentation in some kind of odd (harmonic minor???) key, then slips into a rather poppy rock beat with a skankin rhythm. neato! It scrambles about for awhile before the distortion and thrash comes back in towards the end. The longest track thus far...
Tr 5 is where things get kinda weird, sounds like a video game at first, or an arabian version of the william tell overture. dense electronica with more mid-east instruments and thick breakbeats colliding! Crunch bang boom! This one also lasts awhile building up to a frenetic propulsive conclusion!
Tr 6 starts out, again, ominously surfy- creepy Bungle-esque organs come in and out. This could have easily been on Disco Volante. hell's yes.
Tr 7: begins with (harpsichord?) and guitar, screechy cartoonish female vox soon slip in, (different language or possibly gibberish) followed by strings and harp- this one is soft and sounds so much like Ennio morricone's Spaghetti Western work that I thought maybe it was stolen. very pretty. Very spare. nice flute. Builds solidly. This one is around 4.5 minutes, not counting the random bubbly sounds at the end.
Tr 8 (maybe my fave) picks up the themes and motifs used earlier, and gets a bit funky, sounds like a Prince instrumental cover of either "Ars Moriendi" (the art of dying) or "Golem II: The Bionic Vapour Boy," from Mr. Bungle's 'California,' CD. The breakbeats kinda hit the jam!
Tr 9 Starts out with thick bass boom and odd jittery guitar. some background vox weave in and out. it gets very fast-paced and menacing. tautly constructed. The beats explode and teh song keeps building! more n more! It revisits its beginning and goes through again- ends with droning vox and same progression you've come to love.
Tr 10 starts out with wind howling. Instruments come in then go straight to noise rock hell. For a long time! Sounds like bees devouring someone up to the 3.5 minute mark where the clattering drums and squealing strings take over. this turns into a rain storm. More mid east stuff comes in the back door. About 6 minues of oddness.
Tr 11 tries to bring it all together. Easily the longest track here. the rain from 10 segues into wind and a tango-esque keyboard symphony that is quite brooding. Marching drums come in and visions start percolating in the mind of the listener. ruins. A vast procession of armies? A lone tent in a sea of dunes? A voluptuous waif dancing in a veil? Strings arise. everything builds wonderfully, thick guitar barely audible in the back. organ flourishes. more building- the guitar takes a lead approach blending with the other surging instruments. The wind comes back in and over the course of a LOOOOONG time (I won't tell how but it's well over 7 minutes) you get naught but near-silence. Then it picks up the same motif as Tr 9 and builds on it furiously.
I'll not reveal the ending!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you needed the perfect cd, look no further......., July 29, 2000
Every song! EVERY SONG! Every song is my favorite song! This cd is tighter than "chilled monkey brains"! More twists and turns than the Autobahn! Goes best with a bed of rice.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quite possibly one of the greatest albums ever recorded, July 28, 2000
It is maddeningly difficult to pidgeonhole or lump the Secret Chiefs 3 into any kind of musical genre or mere human description. 'Second Grand Constitution and Bylaws' is just as wild, unpredictable, challenging, and utterly satisfying as the first SC3 album. SC3's unique blend of Arabian folk, 60's surf, techno and death metal is in full effect on the record as well as a heavier dose of songwriting, with most of the songs lasting over three or four minutes, as opposed to the short, mystifying bursts of insanity found on the first record. Every song on this album must be heard to be believed. This record holds its own right next to the Beatle's White Album, Radiohead's OK Computer, Slayer's Reign In Blood, (insert favorite landmark album here).
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