i love it when my fucking internet dies and i am forced to listen to my fathers old cds. however this was very pleasant!

explosive brass! the inhuman playing mixed with this sharp recording quality create something that almost hurts to listen to... but in a good way! one of the finest examples of progressive jazz and big band i have heard. "turtle talk" and "limehouse blues" especially blow me away, i feel exhausted just listening to them.

it's just sad at this point.

very interesting mostly forgotten record, some of these songs really should have been hits, the band in general should have gone on. it is not a masterpiece, but i am very sad to see it being given no attention at all. "nice to see you" is a perfect song, it's whimsical, the melodies are fun to sing, the baroque instruments are beautiful, and it is concise, less than three minutes. definitely check this out.

we get it, you're high.

sorry but ima be a twitter user for a second. i already thought "lift your skinny fists" was indulgent and repetitive, but this is a whole new level. it isn't a double album at least (the vinyl version is a lot more tolerable to me, it wastes less time), but instead it just fucks around with pseudo-intellectual fancy-schmancy shit that honestly i just don't get. i understand that a lot of people are deeply moved by this, but i just doesn't speak to me, i am sorry. i ... read more

jesus christ almighty someone give this band some benadryl! this is one of the most impressive musical performances i have ever heard. zappa is ruthless when it comes to composition and musicianship, and there is absolutely no space between the notes for a gasp of air in this whole live album. it is bonkers! if you are a zappa fan, this is a MUST listen, just be sure to strap yourselves in more than usual this time.

usually with albums this huge and ambitious, i find myself appreciating them a lot more than i do enjoying them. this is not the case here. although some of the songs are fairly weird, they do work in the greater context, even the unfinished ones too. this project is just bursting at the seams with creativity, brian literally cannot contain himself, it almost sounds like the work of a mad man... which, in a way, it kind of is. knowing the story around it gives a bit of an edge to this otherwise ... read more

launches off with the bewildering "moribund the burgermeister", which is just so... wonderfully bizarre and a unique song that i cannot say sounds like anything else i have heard before, it definitely grows on you over time. "solsbury hill", what more is there to say... gorgeous, joyous, magical, how could you hate it, it is irresistible. there is a bit of a lull for me after that though. "modern love" is powerful but doesn't shine like the first two tracks. ... read more

i can get into some extreme free jazz, but there were a few times in this where i was starting to get concerned for coltrane's health. especially on "offering", it actually sounds like he is trying to destroy his sax.

i can't take this shit no more man.

is it overhated? in my opinion, no. if anything it's UNDERhated. even the hit single from this is utter dog shit. it is the decomposing exoskeleton of genesis. it is incredibly sad to hear and loathe every moment of it.

i can't tell where songs start and end, everything is just so coated in intricate detail and compositional complexity that it became both disorienting and foggy (it sounds like how a gustave moreau and/or j.m.w. turner painting looks); ideas and melodies come and go in a way that feels unreal, as though you are literally phasing through the sound. i have honestly never had this experience with music before, at least not in pop. if you like bewilderingly dense and overly ornamented music, ... read more

a lot of people don't care for it, and i think that is unfortunate. for years i listened only to "breakfast in america", "crisis? what crisis?", "crime of the century", and "even in the quietest moments", and, having been told that this one wasn't all that special and i shouldn't worry about listening to it, i never bothered giving it a spin. i had only ever heard "it's raining again". i finally listened to it a few months ... read more

the majority of it is nothing more than "good". the non-brian songs actually manage to be something interesting, though you can tell those songs are heavily leaning of the precedent and creative stroke brian had previously laid out for them, from the very first few seconds of the album sounding like something out of smile, and more dynamic or spacious songs like the long promised road and disney girls, they do borrow quite a bit from him. that isn't a mark against it, i am glad ... read more

although far from the greatest, it is still one HELL of a musical performance. honest to god it is magical. something to thank here is the acoustics of wherever they were playing in, as the reverb is enrancing, the atmosphere is so dense you can practically smell the cold dark room at night, only making the music that much more able to break beyond the boundaries of sound and choke you up from its otherworldliness. i would say "yurameki in the air" and "walking in the ... read more

i think fantano once said something along the lines of "i wish to one day live in a world where fishmans become rightfully rated in this bubble of the internet [as opposed to the current state in which they are overrated as hell and are able to escape to the general public" and although this album is not even close to being their worst, i think it generally lies in between the two sides of fishman's discography, the lackluster and bizarre, and the bizarre and the interesting. a ... read more

not exactly the most elaborate thing ever, but the pure attitude towards life this proposes is something i am jealous of. ecstasy plugged into an amplifier, at times it feels blind to the pains of the world, but that is why i come towards it, it is every good feeling distilled, and pasted together so meticulously and skillfully, it is a miracle this exists in the same world that bad music does.

this thing is excited to exist and share its ideas with me. quirky, whimsy, jazzy, it is one of those albums i would recommend to any and everyone. no particular track stands out, it is all a joy. very good compilation, you couldn't even tell that it was one if you didn't know and just listened to it front to back.

how does one make ambient interesting without adding non-ambient elements? i think of this as a concept-ambient album, i believe it to be an impression of the earliest phases of life on earth, and boy does he capture the atmosphere well. better than almost any other ambient work i have ever listened to. the final song has such a loneliness you couldn't cut it with a cleaver.