Thursday 19 March, 2009

Naked City - Grand Guignol (1992)


"Grand Guignol is the second full-length studio album released by John Zorn's band Naked City in 1992 on the Japanese Avant label. The album followed Torture Garden which was a compilation of "hardcore miniatures" from Naked City and Grand Guignol. The album notable for the inclusion of cover versions of pieces written by classical composers, the guest vocal of Bob Dorough, and also features a selection of "hardcore miniatures" (tracks 9-41) which are intense, fast, brief compositions, complete with the wailing of Zorn's alto sax, and the sometimes tortured, sometimes hilarious screams of Yamatsuka Eye.
Recorded between 1989 and 1992, released in 1992" [in wiki..]


An intense and extremely well played recording, N_joy it as it was an original soundtrack of a horror performance at old Grand Guignol Theater in Paris ~ Ludwig Vanessa.


1. "Grand Guignol" – 17:41
2. "La Cathédrale Engloutie" – 6:24 (Claude Debussy)
3. "Three Preludes Op. 74: Douloureux, Déchirant" – 1:17 (Alexander Scriabin)
4. "Three Preludes Op. 74: Très Lent, Contemplatif" – 1:43 (Scriabin)
5. "Three Preludes Op. 74: Allegro Drammatico" – 0:49 (Scriabin)
6. "Prophetiae Sybillarum" – 1:46 (Orlande de Lassus)
7. "The Cage" – 2:01 (Charles Ives) - Featuring Bob Dorough
8. "Louange à l'éternité de Jésus" – 7:08 (Olivier Messiaen)
9. "Blood Is Thin" – 1:02
10. "Thrash Jazz Assassin" – 0:47
11. "Dead Spot" – 0:33
12. "Bonehead" – 0:54
13. "Piledriver" – 0:36
14. "Shangkuan Ling-Feng" – 1:16
15. "Numbskull" – 0:31
16. "Perfume of A Critic's Burning Flesh" – 0:26
17. "Jazz Snob: Eat Shit" – 0:26
18. "The Prestidigitator" – 0:46
19. "No Reason To Believe" – 0:28
20. "Hellraiser" – 0:41
21. "Torture Garden" – 0:37
22. "Slan" – 0:24
23. "The Ways of Pain" – 0:33
24. "The Noose" – 0:13
25. "Sack of Shit" – 0:46
26. "Blunt Instrument" – 0:56
27. "Osaka Bondage" – 1:17
28. "Shallow Grave" – 0:42
29. "Kaoru" – 0:53
30. "Dead Dread" – 0:48
31. "Billy Liar" – 0:13
32. "Victims of Torture" – 0:24
33. "Speedfreaks" – 0:50
34. "New Jersey Scum Swamp" – 0:44
35. "S/M Sniper" – 0:17
36. "Pigfucker" – 0:24
37. "Cairo Chop Shop" – 0:25
38. "Facelifter" – 0:57
39. "Whiplash" – 0:22
40. "The Blade" – 0:30
41. "Gob of Spit" – 0:21

Fred Frith - bass
Joey Baron - drums
Bill Frisell - guitar
Wayne Horvitz - keyboards
John Zorn - alto sax, vocals
Yamatsuka Eye - vocals

link@320