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LOCUS SOLUS

John Zorn

RIO/Avant-Prog


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John Zorn Locus Solus album cover
3.13 | 20 ratings | 2 reviews | 15% 5 stars

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Studio Album, released in 1983

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Bass and the Treble (2:57)
2. The Acquisition and Control of Fire (1:33)
3. Honey-cab (2:33)
4. Switch (2:15)
5. Juan Takes it Out of his System (2:11)
6. The Wish (2:02)
7. A Case Arose (2:00)
8. The Elf (1:41)
9. Getting Curly (1:51)
10. Don't Switch (1:50)
11. Smooth Cheeks of a Big Ego (1:51)
12. Add Water (2:15)
13. Cold (1:31)
14. Friar T. (0:58)
15. Too Me (2:16)
16. You Rang? (1:17)
17. Self-Satisfied (1:22)
18. Agora (1:10)
19. Dot, Dot, Dot (1:14)
20. Moi Non Plus (1:43)
21. Liver (1:49)
22. "The Footman's Eyes Get Crossed" (1:04)
23. Heike Cipher Mystery (1:47)
24. Jedi Mind Trick (1:06)
25. Mysterious Island (2:11)
James Bond Trilogy:
- 26. You Only Live Twice, Mr. Bond (1:59)
- 27. When Arrows Meet (1:38)
- 28. Never Say Never Again (1:45)
29. Sign of the Four (2:13)
30. Locus Solus (parts 1 & 2) (2:11)
31. Where Are My Victims? (2:06)
32. Disco Volante (2:06)
33. Kaiser in Borneo (1:48)
34. The Saint (1:40)
35. The Violent Death of Dutch Schultz (1:23)
36. Thunderball (1:43)
37. White Zombie (1:30)
38. The Slaves of Vesuvius (2:05)

Total Time: 68:39

Line-up / Musicians

Tracks 1-8:
- Peter Blegvad / vocals
- Christian Marclay / phonograph and recycled records
- John Zorn / alto sax, soprano sax, clarinets, game calls
Tracks 9-22:
- Arto Lindsay / guitar, vocals
- Anton Fier / drums
- John Zorn / alto sax, soprano sax, clarinets, game calls
Tracks 23-30:
- Wayne Horvitz / organ, electronics
- Ikue Mori / drums
- John Zorn / alto sax, soprano sax, clarinets, game calls
Tracks 31-38:
- Whiz Kid / turntable
- M.E. Miller / drums, vocals, Linn drums, congas
- John Zorn: alto sax, soprano sax, clarinets, game calls, whistling

Releases information

2LP Rift (Rift 007), 1983
CD Eva/Wave (WWCX 2035), 1991
CD Tzadik (TZ 7303), 1995
CD Evva (evva 33003), 1995

Note: (16, 18, 20, 22) are extra tracks not available on the vinyl edition.

Thanks to Joren for the addition
and to Joren for the last updates
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JOHN ZORN Locus Solus ratings distribution


3.13
(20 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(15%)
15%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(10%)
10%
Good, but non-essential (25%)
25%
Collectors/fans only (40%)
40%
Poor. Only for completionists (10%)
10%

JOHN ZORN Locus Solus reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by siLLy puPPy
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic
4 stars Named after the 1914 French novel by Raymond Roussel, LOCUS SOLUS was one of JOHN ZORN's earliest recordings originally released in 1983 as a double album on the Rift label and then remastered and re-released on CD in 1991 on the Japanese late Eva in 1991 with several bonus tracks and then picked up again by ZORN's own Tzadik label and released a final time in 1995. As a seeker of adventurous musical experiences, i sniff out weirdness like dog treats but once in a while something so strange and so bizarre randomly falls into my lap that i have to sit back and go - whooooooooaaaaaahhhhhh! What did i just hear?

JOHN ZORN of course is well known for his avant-garde and frenetic free jazz workouts but LOCUS SOLUS is fairly weird even by ZORN's standards which means that those inured to only traditional forms of music will refer to this as pure noise and those who crave such wild manic music experiences will take them to the promised land of crazy unhinged sonic delight. The 68 minute run of pure mindf.u.ckery is roughly divided into four parts with different lineups. The bizarre nature of LOCUS SOLUS provided the blueprint of what would become the band Painkiller and after a listen to this it's obvious that Mike Patton was so enamored with this album that he adopted many of those weird spastic sounds in Mr Bungle and even borrowed the album title "Disco Volante" from one of the tracks.

This is one of those extreme avant-garde albums from ZORN with anarchic compositional structures, random electronic sounds, processed spoken word poetry, grindcore, freeform jazz saxophone squawks that sound like a coop of tortured chickens and excessive guitar noise. While the noise rock scene in Japan is considered ground zero for that kind of thing, it seems like LOCUS SOLUS is the epicenter that reverberated across the world. The first eight tracks feature Peter Blegvad on vocals although they are so processed and distorted that it sounds like a manic robot. There are several drummers on board with tribal drum parts as well as extreme metal bombast. Likewise there are turntable effects and wild array of other sounds ranging from whistling to clarinet solos and organ runs.

This is a very demanding album for sure as there is absolutely no recognizable forms of music to be heard. This is about as avant-garde and thinking outside of the box as you can imagine and all the more remarkable for its energetic prowess and that it was released as early as 1983 as it sounds like something that should've emerged in the mid-90s. The punk infused explosive tracks are succinct with most around the 2 minute mark or less but at over an hour's worth of this it is quite enervating. This is the stuff avant-garde dreams are made of but for those not accustomed to this degree of musical freedom, this will come off as jarring and completely startling. Not for everyone but i totally dig this twisted unapologetic noise-fest.

Latest members reviews

2 stars Review n° 205 John Zorn - Locus Solus Rock? Maybe. But totally in opposition. (A briefly feeling after looking at an abstract painting). Locus Solus is a nice example of Zorn's early musical anarchy. Scratching sounds, Saxophone distinctive noises, random tribal drums, non-musical structu ... (read more)

Report this review (#1134459) | Posted by VOTOMS | Thursday, February 20, 2014 | Review Permanlink

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