Artist: Naked City
Album: Live In Bremen, Germany
Genre: avant-garde jazz
Year: unknown
Label: bootleg
This is sort of my introduction to Naked City (I have the first two PainKiller albums, so I'm familiar with the style). Naked City is the brainchild of the wildly talented John Zorn and stands as the first group to meld the stylings of jazz with grindcore. Who would have thought such a combination would actually work? Now Naked City is considered one of the most influential (and innovative) grind bands of all time.
Before the release of their debut album Torture Garden (or even Zorn's preceding album for which the band was named), someone got a solid recording of them playing live in Bremen in November of '89. The only piece of the puzzle that seems to be missing is the vocalist, Yamatsuka Eye. Over the course of an hour and a quarter, the band lays down twenty-eight tracks ranging from smooth jazz to spastic jazz/grind. The band covers a number of pieces, including the themes of Hawaii 5-0, Body Heat, and Rosemary's Baby. Mixed in with the familiar pieces are Naked City's signature jazz-blasts (which must have been a shock to the audience, right?). My personal favorite is "Torture Garden" which Zorn dedicates to Mick Harris (Napalm Death, PainKiller). Zorn and crew also blast through "Victims of Torture," "Blood Duster," "Blood Is Thin," and a handful of other tracks that would appear on Torture Garden.
Zorn really shows off his chops in this performance. One moment he's smooth and relaxed, the next he goes berserk on his alto sax. The drummer, Joey Baron, shows that he is adept at playing various different styles, from jazz to punk to surf.
Overall, this is a nice little (I mean long) live bootleg that I would recommend to fans of Naked City and John Zorn. It's free to download from Blogged and Quartered here.
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Top Tracks:
Hawaii 5-0
The List of Adrian Messenger
Torture Garden
Rosemary's Baby
Saigon Pick Up
No comments:
Post a Comment