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1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad
 
 
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1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad

The Music Tapes
4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews) | More about this product
List Price: $15.98
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Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this album with Music Tapes for Clouds & Tornadoes ~ The Music Tapes

1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad + Music Tapes for Clouds & Tornadoes
Price For Both: $30.96

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Product Details

  • Audio CD (July 13, 1999)
  • Original Release Date: July 6, 1999
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Merge Records
  • ASIN: B00000J69Y
  • In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #168,859 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.

Samples
Song Title Time Price
listen  1. Song For Soon to Be Sailor 2:16$0.99 Buy Track
listen  2. 1st Imaginary Symphony By Vacume Cleaner 1:00$0.99 Buy Track
listen  3. Song Of The Nomad Lost 2:34$0.99 Buy Track
listen  4. Pulled Out to Sea 1:34$0.99 Buy Track
listen  5. March Of the Father Fists 2:35$0.99 Buy Track
listen  6. Nomad Tell Us 3:10$0.99 Buy Track
listen  7. Aliens 2:32$0.99 Buy Track
listen  8. Song of 100 Castles0:55$0.99 Buy Track
listen  9. What the Single Made the Needle Sing 4:02$0.99 Buy Track
listen10. The Clapping Hands 4:12$0.99 Buy Track
listen11. Seas Song for Sailor0:33$0.99 Buy Track
listen12. The Television Tells Us 4:34$0.99 Buy Track
listen13. An Orchistrations Overture 1:53$0.99 Buy Track
listen14. Song for the Death of Parents 4:02$0.99 Buy Track
listen15. A Warning! 1:30$0.99 Buy Track
listen16. Fanfare for Speeding Bullet 2:13$0.99 Buy Track
listen17. Wishing Well at Caper's End 2:04$0.99 Buy Track

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The Music Tapes are guaranteed to either enchant or annoy, and very few people will remain undecided. Those who do may get depressed. At first listen, the Music Tapes' First Imaginary Symphony for Nomad sounds like The Simpsons' Rod and Todd Flanders recording a concept album on a boombox. The wounded vocals and lo-fi demeanor won't be erupting out of clubs anytime soon, but repeated listens bring an interesting, slightly eerie sound out over their many dubbed tracks. There's a theme of nervous childhood terror running through all the tracks and the more abrasive sonic talons that rake across the speakers are offset by tracks like the Yellow Submarine-ish "March of the Father Fists" and the brilliantly daffy "What the Single Made the Needle Sing." Fans of Daniel Johnston and Jad Fair's darker moments are urged to pay special attention to this band, the strangest in the Elephant 6 collective. --Jason Josephes

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Customer Reviews

20 Reviews
5 star:
 (16)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliance in Seclusion, November 14, 2003
Length - 41:39

Complexity mired in dreamy obfuscation palled by chamber pop excursions shadowed under alienated childhood experiences renders 1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad, an incredible, emotive collage of musical palpitations and transcendental imagination. The seemingly terse 41 minutes of aural estrangement is, in fact, a very long, spirally road traversing the aforementioned realms of sadness and despair with an eerie optimism. To coalesce efflorescent pop with a concept as in-depth and bizarre as the one created by the Music Tapes is nothing short of a miracle. This album is an incredible accomplishment in terms of music and art, a genuine work of pleasing melodies and offsetting stories held together by a remote, yet radiating warmth and compassion. People inured to mainstream, by-the-book music will likely be unresponsive to this record, so I implore you, like the previous reviewers, to keep an open mind and an open heart while experiencing this. Let it seep in, and you will have a new appreciation for this other-worldly music. (In addition to the album, the magnificent packaging includes a comic book, a strange cardboard standup piece and a list of other 1999 summer/fall merge records releases)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great album, March 24, 2005
I am a sucker for the odd ball side of music. Elephant 6 just happens to be possee of people who manage to cater to my aural desires.
I have owned this album for a couple of years and after a slow start have finally conceded defeat.

Music tapes won.

I reckon I tried not to like this album , it was weird and alien track 12 and 13 seemed to go on too long at first . But what they do is lull you, meander along over stay their welcome for good reasons, to set you up for the emotional finale .
The first time i heard the album the end of it made me teary .No joke , and I was never a real superman fan , I much prefered batman.
The sounds fit together almost seemlessly ( which is a huge effort) the tunes are as catchy as hell and the sound collages are a delight . The album gets a cofident 5 stars.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars strikingly unique and ingenius, yet only for the open-minded, September 22, 1999
By A Customer
This is a very enjoyable record from the resident oddball of the Elephant Six collective- current Neutral Milk Hotel member and ex-Chocolate USA leader Julian Koster and his gang of misfits known as the Music Tapes. The album opens with the sounds of what one can conclude to be Koster's favorite instrument - the singing saw. From there, numerous odd sounds and random noises such as wax cylinder pops clutter the record, making it at times seem like more of a sound collage than an actual album. Things are made more clear when you read along with the accompanying comic strip. Once you get to a certain point, though, the strip ends and all you can do is listen- the album's conclusion is both heartbreaking and amazing. Julian Koster is among the most underrated songwriter/storytellers that you're likely to come across in this era of music. It's just a shame that this masterpiece will be completely overlooked by the majority of music listeners. Nice packaging, too. :)
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Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars should be considered a classic
This album is catchier and more song-orientated than many reviews would let you believe - there are hooks and memorable melodies in droves, both vocal and instrumental. Read more
Published 16 months ago by a concerned citizen

3.0 out of 5 stars Imaginary symphony
Calll it avant-garde Elephant 6. Music Tapes (brainchild of Julian Koster) creates an interesting and random patchwork quilt in "1st Imaginary Symphony For Nomad," a bizarre... Read more
Published on November 11, 2004 by E. A Solinas

5.0 out of 5 stars Good cd.. tape
This is one of those lofi masterpieces, where the use of seemingly beatup analog recording equipment makes for a luscious and incredible sound, best heard at high volume with... Read more
Published on June 5, 2004 by famousexplorer

5.0 out of 5 stars utterly worthwhile
the name of the band says it all. if you've ever recorded your own stuff, no-fi, you'll dig this.
Published on March 22, 2004 by Kah

4.0 out of 5 stars Singing for all Nomad Children of Grand Invention
Found these folks after I found Neutral Milk Hotel, so I may have already been sold, but there are no albums out there that I've found since that display so little fear in taking... Read more
Published on January 13, 2004 by hackwrite

5.0 out of 5 stars What you need to know
this record is a "song/story" record. it is a completely linear tale of an inventor and his son. Read more
Published on September 25, 2002 by snarful

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant and wonderful
this is one of the best cds i own. i think people willing to take the time to listne to it will find great joy in it. Read more
Published on March 19, 2002 by Daniel Jircitano

5.0 out of 5 stars Child-like wonderland.
This album was like a childhood regression. Cute and simple. However, you'll find darker moods hidden behind the jingle-jangle: /I am the father/This is my castle/These are my... Read more
Published on October 31, 2001 by R. Dano

2.0 out of 5 stars mommy issues
Not to lay any bummers on anyone, but about 12 listens to this album has caused me to consign it to the "to be traded in" bin. Read more
Published on August 21, 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Pop Escapism at its most extreme
Although 5 star ratings adorn even the most average recordings across this site, this is an album that truly deserves such a rating. Read more
Published on June 15, 2000 by Brady E. P.

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