MIKE PATTON

His high school band Mr Bungle,a group of friends gained him notoriety amongst musicians.Their fusion of genres such as surf,funk & metal made them certainly unique and inspired many bands of the nineties such as Korn & Incubus to blend multiple genres with metal.But it was when Faith No More member Jim Martin wanted to Patton to their replace current vocalist Chuck Mosley and upon joining with give Patton his hugest commercial success.This could be seen as a stigma to people not familiar with his other/more frequent others works.

The album under review is possibly the most risky début ,I have ever head.Fortunately being a fan of his for a while cushioned the blow of how much of an abstract approach he took to recording it.The album just comprising of vocal tracks and various themes in which he creates noise and sounds with his vocals reflecting the themes and vice versa.When listening to this,it can help to acknowledge the title and you may see what the vocals are trying to replicate.The tracks & theme their selves are very dark & sometimes deranged with many of the titles involving death & sex such as titles called ""I Killed Him Like a Dog...And He Still Laughed"" & "Red Mouth, Black Orgasm". His approach his very similar to his work John Zorn with the Moonchild trio where lyricless vocals & sounds are performed over experimental/Avant Garde music,this certainly shares the same category but minus the instruments your left with 43 minutes of noise vocals.When the concept of an Avant Garde is clear you can begin to try & understand what's really trying to happen.Sometimes I think the idea & release of the album is more a statement then the music itself.I really love the idea of this album,Patton's vocals are spine chilling & performed impressively.He creates sounds which sound impossible to replicate or for that matter even sound like they were created from a human beings mouth (again possibly the point album).The album can grow tiring three quarters of the way through,the beginning feels exciting & unique,because it's certain you've never heard anything like this before but once those feelings diminish it can feel like a novelty and there are moments where there are genuinely hilarious moments such as "Inconsolable Widows in Search of Distraction".

An Avant Garde album with one of the most unique vocalists ever and despite whether you like the album or not,you have to appreciate the effort & creativity.It's not one I play regularly but am glad to listen to once in a while.

Don't expect Faith No More or even anything Patton has done before.

A Perfect Place is packaged with both a short film and it's music together on two separate discs. Neither film or music is a total masterpiece, but each has moments of brilliance and intrigue to keep the eyes and ears attuned. What is great about Mike Patton as a film composer is that he doesn't simply rely on a string section alone like many film scores do. Like his friend and mentor John Zorn, Patton is unafraid to pull from Rock, Avant, Big Band, and general noise-making (two tracks are of a radio dial being tuned) to suit the right mood for each piece.

All that said however I don't really think as a album it holds up as strong as it could. The CD is only a scant 35 minutes, mostly consisting of instrumentals, but there are a few moments where Patton gets to flex his vocals a bit in the way he did in his Mr. Bungle days. I don't play this CD much, but when I do I come away feeling it was a good purchase.

A much easier listen than the debut Patton album.

'Adult Themes for Voice' was an album focusing around Patton's main gun, which is his voice and unique, unconventional stytle. 'Pranzo Oltranzista' is a look on his composing efforts. The album is mostly avant- garde music, with a touch of some free jazz, probably because of the presence of musical genious, John Zorn.

My favorite songs of this album are all the ones with sound effects. I find those tracks to be some of the best 'noise' tracks of any of Patton's work with ambience and sound effects and the like.

I give this album three stars because it was good, but didn't have any mindblowing stuff. It was a tolerable album unlike the debut and had some pretty good ideas.

I can't take this.

This is one of those albums, that no matter how interesting and unconventional, just gets completely unlistenable. I just about every album where Patton is featured on vocals, the music mixed in with his vocal work is usually pretty interesting, but an album of him doing his 'trademark' vocal work can be one of the most irritating things to the ear. What this album contains is 33 fairly short to some going above a minute of Mike Patton shrieking and making noises as varied as he possibly can. That is simply the only way I can describe te content on the album. As far as my opinion goes, it is annoying, overdone and dumb. A one-star rating is the best I can possibly give this work.

Well, this time around, with Pranzo Oltranzista, Patton wrote more "conventional" songs, including instruments such as cello, guitar, percussion and alto saxophone (performed by John Zorn, no less). This "banquet piece for five players" is actually a composition for "La Cucina Futurista", a futurist cookbook; each song corresponds to a recipe. Even with the inclusion of instruments, this album is far from easily accessible, and is filled with ambient sounds (apparently of someone cutting vegetables, eating, followed by the washing and shattering of his plate). The players often burst in spontaneous, frenetic playing of their respective instrument, resulting in cacophonic sounds, while Patton makes noises similar from those found in "Adult themes", but some entirely original, such as himself crunching some carrots! The result is an album that incorporates free jazz, psychedelic, atmospheric and noise in a fresh and inventive way.

This album is certainly progressive, as the music contained in this album progress in ways it hadn't really done before. While the idea of bursting into frenetic jams isn't new, the combination here is quite original. I personally enjoy it very much, and I'm a bit sad that Patton didn't try to follow on the ideas of this album. Even though, I wouldn't go as far as saying that this is an "excellent addition to any prog music collection". This is why I rate this album three stars, "good, but non-essential". It is the best Patton solo album and, by far, the most accessible. Definitely worth a listen if you get the chance, however, approach this one with an open mind.

Fans of FNM, Mr. Bungle, and Fantomas should be able to digest this. Newcomers to Patton should get Faith No More's The Real Thing and Angel Dust as well as Mr. Bungle's California, as these are the easiest to get into (that's not saying much). However, established fans should pick up this album if you can find it.

Grade: C

Grade: D

A very interesting release; bizarre, noisy and pure weirdness is the best descriptions I can give to this one. Unfortunately I can't recommend this one to anyone but the most hardcore Patton fans, or people who wants a highly experimental vocal album. I would have given it more than 2 stars for its interesting and original concept, but it's inaccessibility and noisy approach only merits it to 2 stars on my scale. Patton collectors and fans only!