The Lonely Goatherd Blog And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats - Matthew 25:32
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August 21, 2003
( ) by The Prime-Time Sublime The obvious point of comparison for composer and "instigator" Paul Minotto and The Prime-Time Sublime Community Orchestra would be Frank Zappa's classical work. Particularly it would compare closer to earlier stuff like Uncle Meat with more the sound of an orchestra, as opposed to the later stuff that Zappa had "executed" on a synthesizer rather than performed by live musicians.
I won't claim much expertise in analyzing classical music styles, but the ( ) album strikes me as fairly listenable, more so than a lot of Zappa's classical work, and specifically more so than his idol Edgar Varese.
Particularly, I hear more pattern, or actual composition and development in ( ) than what I've ever been able to make out of Varese in particular.
The first couple of compositions here especially pleased me. "Holy War in Your Pants" has a particularly cool title, though I don't know how much it reflects the actual musical content, which has basic themes sounding like a purposefully flat high school orchestra.
My favorite track, "A Day at the Mall" offers some nice plucky 50s strings, stuff to gently pump you up as you ascend the escalator. It's fairly compelling.
Two compositions gives you over 20 minutes of outstanding material, so there's at least a good half album already. I didn't find the other pieces quite as interesting, though "Felini's pickup truck" had some nice Americana colors, bits of banjo and such in this dry lineup. Somehow I picture this going with a scene of a pickup truck tearing through a desert with surreality dust kicking up behind.
If you're interested in modern orchestral styles, ( ) rates a listen, even if they are a bunch of clowns.
