THE WIDOW

Four stars, and two stars. Four stars for 'Frances the Mute' in the context of THE MARS VOLTA'S discography. It's the Rosetta Stone to the album of the same name, the key to understanding the strange, awkward concept underlying the otherworldly sounds of that album. But two stars for the music itself: 'The Widow' is great, but is only one short track, and 'Frances The Mute' seems somewhat pointless on its own. So I'll compromise at three stars.