Customer Reviews

Naked City

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Despues de escuchar Mr. Bungle compre este disco, Zorn esta realmente loco, si quieres oir una nueva alternativa en Jazz lo recomiendo a ojos cerrados, hay temas clasicos en los que el disco entrega una nueva alternativa, mucho mas excitante. Para entrar en el mundo de John Zorn es la mejor alternativa, ya que trae temas de otros discos, excelente.

this is the album that really got me seriously into jazz. I'll wait a minute to let you gasp....

Now, let me explain myself. I bought Naked City in the summer before my freshman year in High School. My father, a former professional, now part-time jazz trombonist played jazz around the house 24/7 and I enjoyed it but didn't really listen to it that much myself. I went to several summer camps focused on jazz improv and I tended to be pretty decent without really listening to the music. The music that I did listen to was hardcore punk rock. The kind where the more bands you know that no one else did, the cooler you are (ever heard of Demon System 13, INDK...yeah thats right). I was a lot more open-minded than others who listen to that music but I still didn't care too much about other music.

Then I listened to Naked City and I was blown away. Someone had bridged the gap between jazz in all of its forms and hardcore. This was some scary s---! All of a sudden I started buying jazz cds like crazy and I have never looked back since. Thanks John for making me an open-minded listener and allowing me to be an individual!

Okay, so why am I writing a review of this record so many years after it's release? Well, It's because I just got into writing these reviews on amazon recently; that and maybe the hope of convincing someone to listen to this music for the first time.

I really appreciate John Zorn. I would say that I LOVE John Zorn, but the simple truth is I don't know the guy. But I do know his music. I haven't liked everything that he has done, but I have always appreciated the intent to realize a very personal and, often powerful, musical vision that pushes foward with exuberance and confidence. He is a true visionary and innovator and I strongly encourage the purchase of any of this artist's work. If you look into it, you will see that this prolific composer has recorded a whole world of music for you to discover. This is just one great record, but do not, by any means, take this particular recording to be a representation of his body of work.

Onto "Naked City." For those that do not know, Naked City is a band, and that band's first record is self-titled. John Zorn writes and/or arranges all of the pieces, as well as playing saxaphone along with Joey Baron (drums), Bill Frisell (Guitar), Wayne Horvitz (sp?) and Fred Frith (Bass). Each of these musicians have solo careers and are composers in their own right, but have come together to help Zorn realize his distinct vision.

The styles touched on on this record include Surf Rock, Jazz (be-bop, straight-ahead, bossa, etc...), Rockabilly, Honkeytonk, Hardcore/Grindcore/Thrash, and a lot of other words that don't mean a whole lot. Sometimes these styles all come together in one 30 second song. Sometimes it is a bit like changing channels but, to my ears, these composistions all make perfect sense. I think that "Naked City" is the perfect post-modern music. It captures the organized chaos that is our everyday existence, and turns it into art. There is a sardonic, cartoonish quality to this music. Zorn has claimed that Carl Stalling was a big influence. But in Zorn's soundscape, the cynicism runs deep. I can hear the ire in these pieces and in his own playing. It is frenetic and at times abrasive, but it is also often very delicate. Ten minutes of sporadic channel changing suddenly opens up into the piercing sincerity of the piece, "Contempt" in which Zorn sounds like he is trying to kill himself with his saxaphone - melodrama at it's best.

Well, I have embarrassed myself enough trying to describe this record. I hope can influence someone to give it a try. It does get very chaotic by the end, as the song titles get uglier, but the whole record makes a very strong statement the way it's layed out. Sit back and surrender to the soundtrack of tomorrow - angrier, faster - chewin' it up and spittin' it out. I have seen them live and it is is so much fun to watch guys like Joey Baron and Bill Frisell play this, often, violent music. Joey Baron is just Mr. Smiley and Frisell is his usual overly reserved self.

After you have listened to this one, check out "Grand Guinol." It starts off with beautiful arrangements of Debussy and Scriabin, and then ends with some of the most intense and ugly Hardcore you have ever heard. Much of this music is impossible to describe so, give it a listen.

I've got about 30 Zorn CDs, and this is one of my favorites. It's not easy listening by any means--there's a lot of punk screaming noise, but unlike other Zorn albums of that genre, the punk bits only last a few seconds apiece. Naked City is like no other album--genres mix from great jazz to country to rock to punk and back again within the course of a few bars. Truly amazing musicianship, and some songs you just gotta play over and over. Regardless of which 'side' of Zorn appeals to you, unless you're straight ahead jazz, this is a must-have.

I guess sooner or later you have to deal with this guy John Zorn if you're a fan of adventurous and challenging music. The problem is where to begin. Among his hundred or so in-print releases, where is the best entryway into the Zorn musical circus? My guess would be to start here. Just drop the needle on "Snagglepuss" and you get an nice four-minute overview of Zorn's channel-surfing aesthetic: free jazz, thrash metal, film music, punk, lounge, twang (name your genre) all reside together to be called upon at a split-second notice, all executed flawlessly with in-your-face production value. Is it art? Sure, in a recycled-pop-culture kind of way, similar to 1960's visual artists like Warhol and Lichtenstein. Is it music? Er, yes, but it's calculated to the point of being desensitizing (like porn, a Zorn obsession). Being a true New York artist, his idea is not just to push musical boundries but also to make us question what music really is in our modern times and how it should be packaged. Do I recommend it? Absolutely--whether we want to admit it or not, we all occasionally like being the "M" in "S&M". It certainly rocks; it just doesn't happen to be terribly sincere. Of course, it doesn't try to be; you have to admire a guy who can name his poison and then (make you) drink it.

The work of John Zorn spans a seemingly infinite array of genres and runs the gamut from complete crap to complete genius. For someone interested in buying their first Zorn recording, simply going to the record store and grabbing a random CD out of the bin would be tantamount to putting a hand in the shark tank hoping to catch a salmon.

Luckily, there's an answer for you: the debut Naked City album.

It would be difficult to rave about this incredible CD enough. It is mind blowing in every way. And unlike many other Zorn offerings, it is fun and accessible, provided you can get past Zorn's saxophone shrieks. And I'll sympathize with you if you can't, because they can get irritating; but if you can't get past them, then you might as well throw in the towel now, because few Zorn recordings come without them.

In my opinion, the musicians in Naked City are absolutely the best Zorn has worked with in any of his projects. Bill Frisell's guitar playing screams with rage and whimpers with beauty; Fred Frith's elegant and fluid bass playing is unmatched in the world of genre-jumbling bands, as is the insane drumming of Joey Baron; and Wayne Horvitz glides masterfully between styles on his multitudes of keyboards like a juggler tossing executioner axes on a unicycle. Boredoms vocalist Yamatsuka Eye also appears on a few tracks here, and like the shrieking saxophone, he takes some getting used to; but the comedic and dramatic elements he brings to the table are vast and powerful.

Lots of other reviews have talked about specific tracks, so I won't rehash them here other than to add that my favorites are the bizarre pairing of Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman" to the bass line from Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman," and the assorted short hardcore tracks in the middle, which really kick.

If you do get this album and like it, you should proceed in short order to Torture Garden (or better yet, the Black Box set, which includes Leng T'Che) and Radio. Avoid Absinthe and Heretic, which boast less of the craziness that make Zorn's music wonderful, and more of the avant-garde pretentiousness that make it annoying.

I remember vividly my first encounter with this CD, I was in a band and (I happen to think at the time we were pretty good) we were all sitting around after a practice session going over ideas and the drummer (the infamous Dick "O") got every bodies attention by hushing us and hit the play button. Nobody spoke for easily 15 minutes (that's about 4 tracks into the CD) I was stunned to the point of silence, at that time in my life that was a rare occurrence. This is an unbelievable CD, crazily diverse at moments sappy and others brash and noisy but always very cool and masterfully played by all involved. If you are a musician running out of ideas or in a dry spell (I don't care what you play) this will save your life.

I remember vividly my first encounter with this CD, I was in a band and (I happen to think at the time we were pretty good) we were all sitting around after a practice session going over ideas and the drummer (the infamous Dick "O") got every bodies attention and hushed us and hit the play button. Nobody spoke for easily 15 minutes (that's about 4 tracks into the CD) I was stunned to the point of silence, at that time in my life that was a rare occurrence. This is an unbelievable CD, crazily diverse at moments sappy and others brash and noisy but always very cool and masterfully played by all involved. If you are a musician running out of ideas or in a dry spell (I don't care what you play) this will save your life.

I like Zorn. His Spy vs. Spy record is excellent as well as Spillane.

This one has a few but it's mostly just noisy as hell. A novelty.

I didn't like this record when I got it back in the early 90's. I think I sold it or something.

This is the first Zorn album that I've heard that I have gotten excited about. (I've not heard that many though so this may not be saying much.) In general, I have not been all that interested in Zorn's brand of thrash/jazz, partly due to it's reputation for wild eclectisim and fascination with cruelty. But actually hearing Naked City, my opinion has changed.

Zorn is definately a post-modernist. And as a post-modernist, he has a need to include nearly EVERYTHING on this CD...surf music, 60's film themes, Ornette Coleman covers, country and western (he likes both kinds of music!), cartoon music, film noir music, post-punk...you name it, Zorn includes it. While to me, this post-modern mishmash doesn't work on his string quartets and other "classical" pieces, seeming more pretentious than interesting, here it is absolutely hilarious...there's an almost playful quality to the referencing, much like an episode of the Simpsons. And like the show, he is fast. You miss much on the first listen...even on the fourth or fifth listen.

The album is not all fun and games though...Zorn is a serious improviser and so are his bandmates, especially Bill Frisell who is amazing on this album. Some of the cuts are really terrifying in their intensity. F**k the Facts is short but rabid...and the various cuts with vocal noise by Yamasutka Eye (who sounds reminicent of Yoko Ono during the Plastic Ono band period) are all short but powerful. They are the least "pomo" pieces on the album.

There are also some really serious beautiful moments as well. Zorn's cover of Chinatown starts as an almost ambient piece and then goes into the familiar Jerry Goldsmith theme with absolute seriousness and, dare I say it, soulfulness. And even the James Bond Theme, which is campy to the max, is also quite brilliantly played and ultimately treated as a serious vehicle for improvisation.

Zorn still has his sick moments...mostly in the choice of cover art. I probably will never understand his fascination with Japanese torture/porn. And at times, the association in the music can turn my stomach a bit (never liked the Black Box work for that reason...seems to glorify cruelty and in this era I think we've had enough of that sort of thing.) But most of this album is a sonic whirl through the musical styles of the past 40 years...held together by the vision of an unique New York Improviser.