Reviews (page 4 of 8)
Glad I was introduced to this and challenged to listen to avant garde jazz. It’s difficult to listen to and I don’t particularly care for it. I found myself marveling at the speed at which they are capable of playing, and the moments of sense that emerge in the music. A fatal flaw for me is the double drums which very often created an overwhelming wall of static. I could not perceive any individual drum hits - it was just interference. Maybe that was the goal and or maybe I just don’t understand that. And maybe that’s the point. Maybe that’s better live. I dunno.
Blistering and wild, but ultimately a little much without reprieve
Amazing, makes me think of jazz differently
Thrilling jazz-punk (or punk-jazz?). I’m not 100% sure I’d want to listen over and over again, or every day, but the album is sure fresh and distinctive. Finding albums like this is what I wanted from this project. I’d give the album 4.5 stars if I could.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1001 ALBUMS- # 84 Jazzzzzzzzz-orn! Zorn and his entourage of collaborators reinterpret compositions by Ornette Coleman through a very aggressive, high‑intensity lens to zany results! 🤪 The album consists entirely of Ornette Coleman compositions, arranged (or filtered) through Zorn’s avant‑garde, punk‑influenced sensibility. The tracks parade together to make for a seamless acid trip barrage of loud jazz instrumentation relentlessly crashing together. 🎧 Classic Track: One long 💥🎷🎺🥁 John Zorn isn’t merely celebrating Ornette Coleman. He’s weaponizing his music, pushing it to the extreme in both tempo and texture, to reflect the urgency, chaos, and cultural fragmentation of the late 1980s NYC avant-garde scene. Zorn treats Coleman’s compositions as raw material, almost like punk riffs or modular cells, to be detonated rather than delicately handled. The approach is polarizing. Some see it as a bold, radical reimagining; others find it too abrasive. The two saxophones often play the “head” (theme) in unison, then shift into simultaneous improvisation (often sounding cacophonous or fragmented). 🖼️ Album Artwork: A collage of noise! 🎶⚡️ Zorn is uninterested in polish. He leans into sonic ugliness to reveal something deeper — the raw core of Coleman’s ideas: freedom, disobedience, structure-as-fluid. Where Coleman broke jazz open from the inside, Zorn blows it up from the outside- abrasively deconstructed in a method that is truly an unforgettable experience, if you can handle it!
Pretty sure this album could trigger seizures. Listened to it on You Tube and the best part were the commercials.
Just no. For something to be considered “music” there needs to be structure. This is 40 minutes of a high school wind ensemble warming up.
this album is absolutely wild - it's a bummer it's not on Spotify (went to Youtube). Free form jazz meets thrashcore/hardcore punk, and utilizes a high energy output from jazz drumming that utilizes hardcore punk drumming with the short, concise length of most DIY punk. This album is literally blowing my mind.
Its just so one note. Loud and abrasive it kind of had the opposite effect. Because there was no real variation it became white noise quite quickly. The only real jolt was the start of the last album when the drum style changed slightly. Basically noise music to study to.
That put me in seriously bad nick
I couldn't access this album.
Not for me
Wat een ellendige jazz kakafonie
A group of people come across a brick of cocaine and a pile of instruments. After doing all the coke they decide to see who can play an instrument the fastest. The German noise band was way more interesting than this one
A bit eccentrically driven and at times, awesome and others, challenging.
Ricky Bobby: Nobody plays jazz at the Pit Stop! Jean Girard: Then why is the song on the jukebox? Bartender: We use it for profiling purposes. We also have the Pet Shop Boys and Seal.
Unlistenable.
Those saxophones never stood a chance.
Immense talent here. One of the best albums I've ever listened to. My life is enriched and improved now.
This is junk
That sounded like a Middle School Band warming up - for like an hour straight, and then walking off stage. It’s not artsy and avant-garde to make noise and call it music, it’s just annoying.
That was a tough listen. Jazz with a heavy metal backbone? Glad I’ve heard it once, but I promise that will be the only time.
I was on such a great streak! Five 4 or 5-star albums in a row, and you ruined it John.
Pretty noisy but quite different and amazing
The album comes in raw and unlubed. If you get past the initial friction you can actually start to somewhat enjoy it. 3/5 no i won't return to it
hard to find (found the full thing on youtube) this was great i wont even lie, its like a battle between the drums and saxophones, the sheer pace and energy and performance just should exist and is a great example of things that should be on this list, theres nothing like this anywhere else, shows the other side of jazz that people need to hear, amazing
I finally found Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman, something extremely rare on streaming, but it’s overwhelming. Though I like experimental sounds, this chaotic grindcore feels like two out-of-tune saxophones and two drummers clashing in a metal shop. It strips the swing, soul, and melody I love from Coleman’s free jazz, making a wild idea that quickly loses charm. Including this while omitting Coleman himself is a crime.
This album really won me over. At first, I thought someone had recorded some eighth graders who had been left unsupervised in band class. But, 10 minutes in, I realized these eighth graders were good.... really good. The YouTube summary (the only place I could find the album) said that Zorn "approaches free jazz with the perspective of hardcore punk" and I think that's a great way to sum up this album. It's loud, it's brash, it's challenging, but they WANT it to be that way. It's an incredible experience.
Here’s the thing. If the entire album was only the second half, I guarantee this has a much higher rating. The second half of this album is actually really good. It’s different and avant-garde, but not in an off-putting way. The first half, though, is borderline unlistenable. Actually gave me a headache. And maybe I just think the second half is actually kind of good because of how abysmal the first half was. Also made me think that it would probably have been better to have an actual Ornette Coleman album on here rather than someone else recording his songs. I understand why so many people hate this album, but I also completely understand why it’s here, despite the fact that if anything a record by Coleman himself should be in its place. I can appreciate what it’s doing and that it’s different while still not liking it. And you can’t deny the musicians are incredibly talented. The first half is a 1 but honestly I’d give the second half of this album a 4. Splitting the difference it’s a 2.5 but I’m actually going to round up here because it’s something different, and it’s never boring. I’d rather be exposed to something like this than more British post-punk.
Where do I get my "I survived the Spy Vs. Spy album" T-shirt? It sounded like someone threw a couple of jazz bands down a 40 minute long staircase with just a few flat spots to play music during. Like I get it, they had a concept and they hit it, but it was not all that fun to listen to.
Seriously not into freeform jazz
A simples junção dos nomes Ornette Colleman e Joh Zorn já causam apreensão. É difícil imaginar a desconstrução comumente promovida por Zorn para a obra de um músico cujo conteúdo já é anárquico. Mas os temas escolhidos são até um tanto quanto convencionais e estruturados, em suas versões originais e Zorn promove o caos com sua música aleatória e desconexa, facilitando um pouco as coisas para o ouvinte na segunda metade do disco, a partir de "Enfant".
Lots of noise, not much of it was good
it's something, something scary
Utter chaos but weirdly addictive, was very appreciative that they were short tracks. Not sure exactly why it's on the list but thankful for the opportunity to hear it.
Woahhhhh
not listenable
Aggressive experimental jazz. Great stuff
Good old days and Feet Music sound good
Rating higher due to the cool factor of a jazz album/artist influenced by punk rock
Could you mosh to this? Enjoyment is the wrong criteria for evaluating this. Of course it isn't enjoyable - it's free jazz played with the pummelling abrassiveness and agression of hardcore punk. Each song is surprisingly tightly structured, you can hear them racing through the head before erupting into the cacophony of free improvisation and then, somehow, wrapping it all back together with a synchronized refrain. It kind of chills out half way with peices that have a bit of a groove and more approachable lead lines - even sounding like a deranged version of an early 90s sitcom theme song for a minute.
This is what I mean when I say I hate jazz. My favourite part was the silence in between songs. Absolutely started my day off on the wrong foot.
This is what I imagine a seizure would sound like in my head. 1 star
uuuurrrrrgghhhh Listen: I don't like to hate on experimental albums. I see all the fact that they're some of the lowest-rated albums and I can't help but give 'em the sideeye. I mean, I get it, I really do: this kind of music absolutely isn't for everyone. I'm not asking people to like these albums. I'm not saying even **I** like all of them! But I read some of these reviews, and I think it'd be worthwhile for some of these people to acknowledge that even if you don't like these albums, they **are** expanding your musical horizons. These are albums trying to expand the definition of what "music" can be, and it's shit you'll never hear on 'Rumours' or 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' or any other highly-rated album from the 60's or 70's. 'Kollaps,' 'Duck Stab!/Buster & Glan,' 'Scum,' 'They Were Wrong, So We Drowned...' I appreciate what they're doing, if nothing else. Which actually leads me to a funny thing about me and experimental music. I've explained this somewhere else before, but when it comes to this kind of material, I sometimes feel like I get it... Y'know, **too much**? Like I have some kind of hidden third ear that can listen through the strangeness and the noise to understand what's going on underneath. And more often than not: I'm bored, actually. 'Trout Mask Replica,' as an example, kind of bores me. I don't mean to sound like one of those "I'M SO CRAZY TO ME WEIRD AL IS JUST NORMAL AL" guys, but seriously: it just doesn't sound that weird to me. Believe me: an album has to actively get up in my craw for me to truly, honestly dislike it — or, using the softest version of this word that I can, hate it. To this point, I've yet to give out more than ten 1's. I've granted exactly eight (and, frankly, it should be seven; I was maybe a bit **too hard** on Limp Bizkit). I'm far from the most positive in my group, but I **always** to try to be fair to an album. You hafta **really** piss me off or bug me or just plain bore the ever-loving shit out of me to get me to hate an album. So, please, do truly believe me: I intended to give this album every fair shot I could. Every benefit of the doubt. Every little scrap of good will it did or did not deserve. Like, maybe, just maybe, I'll see something in it that so many other people ha This is just noise. I do not say that lightly. In fact, I **hate** calling albums noise. But this... I mean, you can give me all the context you want, in regards to this guy's "hardcore miniature" style, or Ornette Coleman's own free jazz work... Any excuse about how this is "jazz for the post-punk generation." This is noise. It's like... You know, I've talked before about this idea, where I assume there are people who will do whatever random, thoughtless shit they want and call it "experimental" or "avant-garde" to get away with it. And believe, there's a difference between "chaos" and "random-ass shit." On no other album have I felt that that's true than this album. From the sound of it, I would honestly believe they're not actually playing a single Ornette Coleman. You could tell me that they spent the whole time improvising and I'd believe it. Hell, you could tell me the horns and the drums were recorded at different times, in different studios, in different countries, on different **continents**, and that neither group ever met up and had no idea what they were recording for, and that this was all haphazardly assembled in post, and I'd damn believe you. Like, yeah, it fits one of my points: I'll never hear **this shit** on 'Abbey Road!' But them, would I **want to**? I mean, I'm pretty sure I could hear this from any random jazz ensemble farting around as a **joke**. I **needed** to hear this? This "deconstruction of jazz" or whatever? If this is deconstruction, then it's in that sort of way where it kind of hates its targets and is just not interested in being kind to it. The "But what if Superman was evil?" of jazz. And, y'know, I see people complaining about albums being or not being on this list. The "review" that's been a thorn in my side for the longest is one for Deep Purple's 'Made In Japan' that's largely just the author whining about how MF DOOM isn't on this list. Like, I try to avoid that sort of thing myself, because I assume that even if I don't like the album, it has to be here for a **reason**. Even if it's just the editor's love for obscure British acts, there has to be **something**. And, I mean, with this album... I mean, let me tell you this: this is the only Ornette Coleman album on this list. Again: **this is the only Ornette Coleman album on this list**. 'The Shape Of Jazz To Come?' The album I'd **assume** you'd put on a list like this, if you were going to include an Ornette Coleman album at all? One of the most controversial, yet influential jazz records of all time? Completely absent from this list. But **this** is here. And I'm not just bringing this up for nothing, I should say. I actually went and sampled some of 'The Shape Of Jazz To Come,' and believe you me — it's not just noise! Sure, it's very freeform, but it never all just blends into each other as two drummers compete to see who can play the loudest. There's far more understandable intention here! It doesn't leave me sitting in my chair, slack-jawed because I just can't believe that I'm supposed to be **impressed** by this. Seriously, maybe John Zorn is better elsewhere, on one of his other albums — I don't wanna judge his whole oeuvre by one album — but it's not like I've been given much incentive to find out, y'know? Experimental music is supposed to push the boundaries of music. Like, everything could be just Top 40 radio hits. Enjoyable? Sure. Pleasant? Sure. But is any of it actually interesting? Mostly not. Experimental musicians are here to tell you that there's a whole wide world out there, where music can be whatever you want. It can be nice and melodic — or it can be strange, or harsh, or atonal, or just plain rough. Some people just **need** that. I mean, would you really wanna live in a world where no one ever pushed boundaries? Where no one had the **freedom** to take music and shape it as they pleased? It'd be a pretty boring world, if you asked me. Even if you dislike it, just **hate it** — you hafta appreciate what it's doing. But I have my limits. And this is a step way too far beyond them. Whatever the audience is for this album — I'm not part of it. And to the people who can hear the secret sauce that makes this one of their favorites: I'm happy for you. I really am. I wish I could hear what you did. But I gave it my all, and I just can't. Thank goodness **this** wasn't the shape jazz to come. Jazz wouldn't have been dead — but damn if it wouldn't have smelled something awful.
Certainly, one of the albums of all time. 2.5 bumped up to 3.
It’s one of the most fascinating 2’s I think I will give. This is album 627. We’ve done a lot. I’ve never heard an album like this before, and I can’t say I want to listen to it again. However, I found myself utterly captivated by this thing as an experiment in what constitutes music. Oh, trust me; this isn’t good. I wouldn’t recommend it with headphones in (take it from me), but in a weird way, I think I would genuinely recommend listening to this before you die & I think its presence on the list is a wondrous experiment. My brain is imaginative at times, and for this album, once it revealed itself as a cacophonous mess of unstructured, yet structured chaotic jazz, my brain immediately went to Eric Andre’s intro where he just destroys his fucking set. Effectively, that chaos is this album. This is a rage room for session musicians, captured with full improvisation, in different audio channels, at different tempos & with reverb caked on top. It’s the type of chaos that you cannot truly put into words & only feel. In a weird way, I think this may be the most potent example of chaos ever put onto tape in an audio sense, at least from what I’ve heard. I’m sure there’s something else utterly baffling out there that qualifies as even better / worse, but I don’t think I’ll try to seek it out. Since I can’t put it into words, I can only say… give it a listen & just feel it. I found a comedy to it; beyond Eric Andre, I thought of the one scene in "Band Geeks" from SpongeBob (yes, the one with "Sweet Victory") where they decide to play loud & contort Squidward’s face to hell. It’s a baffling album, and I think it’s certainly taking a spot away from one that deserves it more, but it’s a fascinating 2, and one that I would recommend listening to, if only for the experiment of one’s reaction. This could be someone’s 5 if it clicks like that, and in some way, I can’t possibly argue with that. It’s also just as easy to give it a 1. It is a raw, unfiltered album, a complete mess, and yet there is JUST enough of a semblance of the typical jazz one might know that it clings onto a sense of normalcy that never truly arrives, but is always just pertinent enough in the background to keep a bit of a hook, if you can tolerate this thing for any more than the first 5 minutes. I didn’t hate it, and I almost have half a brain to give it a 3 just for the hell of it, but from a purely musical standpoint, I think I have to stay at a 2. P.S.: If nothing else, it makes for great noise to clean your ears out afterward. Literally. I used a Q-Tip (not the rapper) and it worked really, really well. Make of that what you will.
I genuinely enjoyed listening to this album. The mixture of free jazz and punk drums was great, though I recognize this is not an album for everyone.
The drums were pretty phenomenal, so I am adding a star for that. Otherwise, meh.
Apple had good reason for not adding this album to its streaming library.
I only knew of Zorn through his appearance on Violent Femmes' second album, Hallowed Ground, on which his whole deal comes off sounding pretty cool. It still sort of does here too! Unfortunately, here it's 40 minutes instead of the ~30 seconds he gets on Hallowed Ground, and thus way harder to take. I think maybe I enjoy it more than more traditionally well-respected jazz, though? (Of course, I don't care for jazz in general, so that's not saying much)
As somebody who loves Glenn Branca and was raised on Black Flag, I feel like a hypocrite for not liking this album more. Maybe I'd appreciate it better if I were more familiar with the Coleman compositions Zorn and co. are beating the shit out of. As it stands I respect it. But.
Like being in the eye of a ferocious jazz tornado.
There must be better experimental jazz out there. I didnt hate it but come on. Loow 3
kaos.
Found on YouTube. Wild! So this is what two drummers, two alto sax and a bass, all playing full pelt, and all, apparently, doing their own thing, sound like. Not scary in any way, but certainly wild. And cacophonous. And almost entirely tuneless. (I listened to a couple of Ornette Coleman tracks as well, out of interest, and even they are not really my kind of jazz - all a bit free-form, I guess.) This was like free-form on speed. I kind of loved the insane drumming, and I know they're probably all, in fact, hyper-aware of what everyone else is doing, but it would take me multiple listens to even begin to identify any musical patterns - and by then I'd have gone mad.
I thought I would like this. I didn't.
Bello il jazz come sottofondo
What in the actual fuck?! 2/5 only because I think is fair to say one needs to listen this before dying
chaotic and frantic and the kind of thing that sounds like it inspired a bunch of people to be like "what if i did some of that, but in a way that an A&R guy would enjoy" and pushed music forward in some way i'll never appreciate enough
I tried to sleep in today and at least succeeded in having a slow morning, so we had brunch today in a nice leisurely fashion. I thought by the cover and my best guess that this would be jazz but perhaps like a laid-back bossa nova type situation so I put the album on. What resulted is probably something that got registered with the Geneva Convention people and will result in me being tried at the Hague. My partner gamely participated in the first half and then politely cleared the dishes and suggested I listen to the second half on my headphones. Now, what's very frightening is that I did a couple minor tasks and got my headphones and came back to this album then, I guess, fell prey to some sort of Stockholm Syndrome for the back half. "Feet Music" and "Broad Way Blues" could almost be described as catchy and perhaps even toe-tapping. This is my 701st album, the 700th I've rated as I need to catch up on one, and I am in a state of deep terror that I have done something negative and irreversible to my brain. I found myself browsing through other works by John Zorn before my evening shower and had to put my phone in the hallway. I'm not going to act like I liked the entire album but it can have a second star.
I would absolutely give this a negative if I could. So bizarre and rambunctious. No thanks!
It is like they think jazz should be played like Sheldon Cooper describes jazz, "they just play all the notes together". This isn't a tribute to the great Ornette Coleman. I would suggest finding all the tracks performed by Coleman and listen to them that way. Much better.
Jazz. Musical chaos. Sometimes it sounded good, sometimes it didn’t.
Brilliant! I lived in NYC in the late 90’s and early aughts and spent a lot of time at the Downtown Music Gallery, and John Zorn’s name was everywhere and it was exhausting. This dude literally puts out a dozen records a year and plays shows every night. I disregarded his music and after hearing this I want to kick myself. This album is wonderful. The interpretation of Ornette Coleman’s music into hardcore punk/thrash is like nothing I heard before and I love it. Note you may have to go to YouTube to hear this album and it is incomplete. On Spotify there’s a note from Zorn to buy his CD’s, except this album is long out of print and he has dozens of other records on Spotify, just not this one. It’s a shame, this album is fantastic.
I can dig it. Seems like Ornette's influence was seemingly massive and I ought to check out his music more.
survived it with only minimal damage
Would I want to listen to again? No, Fuck You. What the fuck is wrong with you? As I say this, I don't hate it. When it finds its groove & rhythm, it can be quite good but unfortunately they rarely maintain that groove. It ends up sounding like a cacophony of frantic drums & saxophone noodling. I could compare it to a panic attack at times but that's mean. Or the sound of infinite toolchests falling down endless stairs while running over infinite cats. Just buckle up & enjoy the ride. The second half is much more coherent than the front. So stick with it. I want to give a 3 or even a one. But 2 feels like the right rating. I kinda get what Zorn is attempting to do here: compress Coleman's compositions. It just doesn't quite work.
No, just no.
should i be surprised i like feet music?
Bad. I don't get the attention of this kind of jazz. And before any hip cats who think they are in the know say, " if I have to explain it you won't get it". Everyone living in the real world know you have no clue eather.
can see why most people would hate this; it’s like the final boss of berkeley circlejerking, but goddamn did I fucking enjoy this exactly what you’d expect from Punk Jazz, chaotic cacophony paired with genuine, intelligent improvisation, it all works together so well but obviously if you’re not a fan of avant-garde jazz, calling this “jarring” is a bit of an understatement - 10/10
the album isn’t on spotify do idk what to do with this but based on other peoples reviews it’s just shit jazz so
What if someone took a handful of talented brass and percussion musicians and told them to play "noisy whatever" and then jammed all the recordings on top of each other. That's this. It wasn't all bad, but it was mostly bad.
Ok, so this isn't available on spotify where I live... I found it somewhere else, and then I wondered whether it was being played on 1.5x or 2x because it was what anxiety feels like..... sped up, a lot going on, seemingly unstoppable, and with moments of melody that you try to cling to. Found it somewhere else and it was actually the correct speed. So, yeah, this is what my anxiety would sound like. MoreMoreMoreMore.
Imagine you’re on one of those d-day landing boats, the door of the boat lowers like a ramp to a full on assault, many fall immediately, others don’t last much longer. You move forward navigating this barrage; someone has lost their arm and picks it up….you hunker down behind anything you can find, ears ringing, as the assault continues with everyone just trying to survive. You continue to make progress but this is not the assault of heavy machine guns or artillery, it’s ***hardcore jazz***. In fact, if you can make it through the first 21 mins or so, this starts to become a little more accessible. If the first half of the album was more like the second half I’d probably be inclined to award an extra star. That first half is intense and challenging.
I couldn't finish it 💔 it's a cool album though. I'm just not that into free-form jazz. but the grindcore of it is super interesting for the first couple songs at least
Dear Lord, what in the actual hell was this. It sounded like the drums were beating the shit out of the saxophones for half the album, and at one point I swear I heard an elephant getting strangled in the background. I did not know thrash jazz was apparently a thing, and I was better off before learning that. This was just pure chaos to me. Not the fun kind either, just nonstop noise that felt like it was trying to start a fight with my speakers.
Not on streaming
Musical vandalism
random collision of a bunch of dissonant sounds with random dentist noises in the background and whatever the hell else they recorded this with. chaotic, and weird, sometimes in a good way - mostly in a bad way. 4/10
Had to find this on streaming for some reason, so I ended up listening to an abbreviated version of the full album. Having not heard much of John Zorn's work prior to this, I wasn't sure what to expect. Good lord, that is some frantic, chaotic freeform jazz if I've ever heard any. It really never lets up, just an onslaught of sax, bass, and drums coming from every which-way. I can appreciate freeform jazz, but this thrashier sound was too jarring personally. A 2 for the musicianship displayed throughout the album, as I can imagine that's quite exhausting to perform. Not much else that redeems this listening experience, however.
I can understand why some people might not like it but I loved it!
This is the exact kind of chaotic jazz I have always hated. Maybe they have something to say, maybe it's a different experience for them playing it. But for me it's unpleasant noise that would best be played if you were trying to get me to divulge state secrets.
Crazy album that I didn't hate but don't really want to listen to again. 5/10
bastante chachi
sounds like two Looney Tunes characters accidentally got locked inside a free jazz club
3 because its not on spooterfy
I'm not into this kind of music and this might be the first one. At first i didn't like it at all because it just sounded like noise but I gave it another go. The second time while listening I closed my eyes and focused on the rhythm and notes and I started to find it interesting. Behind all that noise was a masterpiece that can not be caught by everyone. So I liked it!
Not on Deezer anymore - also a bit too free jazz-y for me
I really got monkeys pawed here for wishing for less American 90s alternative rock... That said I'd still take this of Smashing Punpkins, Nirvana, REM or any of that ilk. Not really fun to listen to but certainly an... experience?
You know why……
This is a wall of sound that pierces my eardrums. Not my thing. A complete crazed saxophone/jazz riff where all songs sound alike. Wanted to like it but the chaos hits me nowhere.
Some good parts though very very rare
I’m the kind of person who enjoys the Avant-garde, but this was too much. I feel like the sax is screaming at me to make it stop.
This sounds like all the instruments have been thrown into the dishwasher and then the dishwasher has been turned on and thrown down the stairs. Oh and the dishwasher is on fire. 1 star: an absolute casserole of a record
I think one has to be in the right mood to give this a real shot. Otherwise it's very chaotic and hard to find the melody that's holding it together.
"Do you like Ornette Coleman?" I do! "Do you like John Zorn?" Mostly! Especially when he's going slow and steady! "Do you want to hear John Zorn play Ornette Coleman songs, only sped up and with a cacophony of instruments playing random notes?"
What a wild album. It's like it initially breaks in your ears with pure chaotic noise before moving through some more seemingly "composed" sounding pieces that move between jazz and chaos. I also switched to headphone halfway through, right about the time the album shifts slightly, and that helped immensely to enjoy the base and drums rhythms under the saxophones riffing. I don't know if I'll go back to this album, but I'm glad it exists and I'm glad I gave it a listen.
Pretentious horseshit. John Zorn has only ever been played for me by hipsters trying to dunk on my taste in music.
Not on Youtube music, couldn't listen :(
Ornette Coleman was never known to take his approach to compositions lightly, never making things easy for those who seek to understand how he did his thing. It took some time for him to find like minds and John Zorn, in tribute, felt kinship with him. Spy vs Spy is Ornette's music taken to the absolute extreme, marked by violent, devil-may-care hostility and disregard for pacing and structure, opting for a melodious cacophony that would have those bolting for the door now as it did in 1989 as it did in Ornette's heyday. Free jazz was the change in the century marked by the shape of things to come and Spy vs Spy best represents what the remnants could become if they stuck around.
This album rips
I am not trying to be a contrarian and rate all of the lowest rated albums highly, but I just tend to find those albums so much more interesting than another UK Electronica album. Like, I never even though to put thrash drums over free jazz, it is such a cool idea and an interesting sound. My only complaint is that it can get a little repetitive and I think this album would be great at 30 minutes. It is kinda weird we got this album but only 1 Coltrane album, and not even one of his free jazz ones. High 4.
This is pretty incredible avant-garde jazz with vague elements of grindcore. If you want something similar that leans hard into death metal, check out the incomparable Imperial Triumphant (I recommend the album Goldstar as it is more accessible). 4.5/5.0: Excellent
interesting take on jazz. its a bit much at the start but songs on the later half are a lot more coherent. it kind of turns your brain off in a way, i listened twice and almost fell asleep the second time. after listening to some of the coleman originals he did a good job of of capturing their essence in whatever avant-garde jazz fusion genre you could call this.
Geez - this makes me uptight and nervous. That's not what I like my music to do.
Wow this was an attack on the senses... I can't say I loved it though I do have respect for it
Hyvää settiä jazzin HC-päästä! Oon kuullut paljon vaikeammin läpäistävää free jazzia, tässähän oli jopa ihan seurattavat melodiat. 4/5
God help the people whose neighbours enjoy avant garde jazz.
nah.
Very samey. I do not like jazz and albums like this only vindicate my opinion of it.
Just a jumbled mess of noise.
2/10… free jazz / avantgarde
intense. violent. avant-garde jazz is uncharted territory for me. perhaps too 'out-there' for my tastes. off to an interesting start.
Incomprehensible at the tempo it's played. Feels like showboating. Not for me.
Pure jazz fart smelling, not worth anyone's time to listen to.
listened via You Tube. Spotifi made this album unplayable. OK album 3/5
Nothing I could hear or will hear again
Sorry chief, couldn't do it. No clue if this turns into something more cohesive at some point. But I wasn't hanging around to find out.
Kind of just noise.
An incredible group of musicians interpreting the work of a musical genius. This might be the only album on this whole list that people truly must hear before they die. Incredible.
I love that an album like this made this list. It is extraordinary. Some of it is wonderful, some of it is overwhelming, all of it is very high quality improv jazz. It's complex and layered and I really enjoyed it.
I'll admit the first few tracks sounded a bit too similar, so I started thinking as much as I liked them, this was going to turn into a bit of a slog. Thankfully, things did change up and by the end it was fantastic. Loved it. Energetic insanity.
This is absolute chaos ... and I love it!
That's a No from me
Relaxing
I was immediately like “nope.” Now I’ve finished the album and I’m still like “nope.”
Klangliche Körperverletzung. John Zorn macht aus Ornette Coleman ein hysterisches Saxophon-Massaker. Keine Seele, kein Groove – nur Lärm, Chaos, und Aggro-Jazz für Masochisten.
An interesting concept on paper: Ornette Coleman’s classic compositions reimagined through a hardcore punk filter. But in execution, it’s 40 minutes of hyper-compressed chaos that borders on unlistenable without prior knowledge of the originals. Most tracks range between one and three minutes, with a few even longer — but they’re still delivered at breakneck speed, leaving little room for nuance or development. Without the emotional depth and melodic freedom of Coleman’s originals, these renditions feel more like abrasive stunts than meaningful interpretations. If you want to understand Coleman’s genius, skip this and go straight to 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘑𝘢𝘻𝘻 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 or 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘐𝘴 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤. 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝟰𝟬-𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲.
kind of Zorn's big band, not bad
tf is this
I don’t know what to do with this
Not an enjoyable experience There were a few moments of clarity but not enough to cancel out my 1 star rating
Goes hard
"RANDOM BULLSHIT GO" the album. It's a cacophony of sounds that give off the impression that the album wants you to fuck off and never come back. The sad part is? Sometimes it clicks together and is actually damn decent.
It fails to meaningfully incorporate the things that make punk music great while pissing off people who don't need pissing off. Jazz purists are permanently miserable by themselves already. And worst of all I still have 20 minutes left. This made me regret my self imposed rule of not skipping anything.
The sound of a mental breakdown.
Reasons to listen to this album: - You dislike music that sounds pleasant - You want to activate your fight or flight response - You want to impress strangers on the internet - You want to feel superior to those people around you that listen to music with normie concepts like “harmony” and “chords” - You have too many people in your house and it’s late at night and you want them to leave as soon as possible
feels like I need to be freebasing something to enjoy this
I did not like this. The music stressed me out!
3,5
My god, thrash jazz is something I didn't expect to hear on this list. Such exciting chaos, it's like a jazz fever dream. A constant barrage of noise that was pretty ahead of it's time. 5/5
Couldn’t get hold of this one. From the reviews I’ve read that’s probably a blessing.
Jazzy. Great.
Fucking hell.
Favorite Song: There isn't one
man this one is going to occupy a weird place. i actually kind of enjoyed this, in a weird way. not the first time i've been exposed to ornette coleman's music so i kind of knew what to expect. the music is chaotic but fun and fascinating to listen to. the intensely wet production here definitely adds to the chaos. lots of squeaks and screaming (almost literally) saxophones here. but also at the same time, i kept checking to see how close i was to being done listening to this one. it's fun but as an entire listen, it does sort of begin to feel like a chore.
Seems to be a rendition of Ornette Coleman. I love Ornette Coleman! The Shape of Jazz to Come is a classic! I'm still going through his stuff but it's great. I don't know John Zorn though. This is one of the lowest in the whole list apparently. I feel like I'm being shot by horns at times. It's fun, just a massive collage of craziness. You'll have no clue where it's going and it still won't make sense when you get there. Just a fun mess of noises. You at least gotta respect the madness, and if you give in to it, you'll have a good time. 70/100
I'm not cool enough for this.
How is this even on the list? It’s just 40 minutes of nonsense experimental jazz that sounds like a migraine. This is awful
mmmmmmm
These people don't know shit and after over 500 albums, it's really starting to piss me off. Please do yourself and John Zorn both a favor and listen to his Naked City album instead. That's the Zorn album that should be on this list and it's not even close. Not. Even. Close. This record shouldn't be in even the 10,001 list. In the often bleak years between "Ford To New York City: Drop Dead" and Giuliani's broken windows cleanup campaign 15 years later, when the lower east side looked like a war zone, John Zorn almost singlehandedly kept NYC the leading edge of experimental music with everything he did downtown at the original Knitting Factory. Much love to him for that and he deserves a wider audience. But this album is a silly joke along the lines of that Marvel Comics series, What If? That's Zorn's schtick pretty much, a hipster musical version of the What If? comics. Only instead of what if Spider-Man joined the Fantastic Four, it's what if the double quartet on Ornette Coleman's landmark 1961 Free Jazz album were a hardcore punk band. A musical joke that doesn't stay interesting for even one set. And how the fuck can these idiots have an Ornette tribute album on their list and yet somehow not have any actual Ornette on this list? WTAF? Fuck these idiots
I know it shouldn't really be a mark against an artist or album, but it was *extremely* annoying to have to search for this album online and weed through playlists that either were missing some of the tracks on the album, or was just one long uninterrupted 41-minute "track", and ultimately having to settle on a YouTube playlist that had all of the tracks as separate tracks, but listed in reverse (and as far as I can tell didn't have the stereo separation that the original recording contained, sadly). It makes me think that either just this album or John Zorn isn't all that popular and/or accessible, and certainly listening to the unremittingly wailing, screaming, frantic versions of a similarly-unknown-to-me artist/composer wasn't the most pleasant experience, I'll admit. I give credit to this project's editors for including "thrash jazz" in the collection, and I admire the technical aspects of the performances by Zorn and his band members, but this is *definitely* not my idea of a good/fun listen, and I'm pretty sure I could have gone to my grave just as happy without having endured this.
This reminded me of a theater piece I saw once which consisted of six actors playing multiple characters as they enacted the last two minutes of all of Ibsen's plays. High concept doesn't make for great art but it is a thing to be appreciated, sort of.
Organized Chaos
40 minutes of brutal, in your face, hardcore jazz. Not good. At all.
Listen, I will play zis only once! Experimental thrash fusion jazz with barely a melody in earshot. It might be your favourite migraine but it ain't mine.
Musical chaos, not my type of tea but you can tell that they are all great players
Tried to listen to this It’s like jazz on meth. Frenetic and noisy and loud….but not in a good way. This is the album equivalent of the tweaked out guy at the entrance of a 7-11.
"Just because you can doesn't mean you should." 1/5 Key tracks: Good Old Days, Rejoicing, Feet Music
Not on Spotify
Noget jazz punk agtig noget. Skal jeg være helt ærlig lyttede jeg kun til 10 min.
Not on Spotify.
Ok so this record is certainly...unique. It's also very inaccessible and a hard listen in all honesty. Maybe for the avant-garde/experimental jazz crowd it's a must listen, but at least for me, it was too much. The performances are technically good, they can certainly play well. The saxos are very much alive, and the drumming is on point while also very aggressive. But, the listening experience is pretty grueling, particularly the first half. It's super intense and feels disorganized, even though there is a structure behind, it's difficult to grasp. This makes it exhausting to listen to after a while. The first 15 minutes are particularly harsh, almost cacophonous. Around the middle, it gets a bit more "listenable", finding more stable grooves and adding the experimental sections a bit more sparsely. If the record had started from "C.&D." I feel it would've been much better, as it's much more understandable and the arrangements, improvisations are more discernible, without compromising on the ambitious nature of the project. I'm sure that for some people, this is probably a masterpiece. There is certainly ambition behind it, and skillful players. But Zorn fails to create an even remotely accessible album, and for me that's it's biggest sin. The way this record is sequenced fails to make it compelling and I feel it could've worked better with a different order. That being said, while I see the goal of the experiment, and where it pushes jazz towards, for me it still isn't such a great record.
I did it. I listened to it all the way through. It was awful and horrible and I hated every minute of it like I knew I would. But I did it. I wish I could give it 0/5.
My out-loud reaction to the first 20 seconds of the first track was literally: "What the fuck is this, mate? Holy shit!!" Bugger me dead, this is some seriously unique music. I love it as much as I hate it. It's fantastic yet it shits me. It's entrancing yet cartoonishly chaotic. I'm up to track 4 now, Good Old Days. My reactions continue: "Shit's crazy. This is nuts... completely nuts." Altogether a fabulously crazy discovery here along the road to 1001, well worthy of a high accolade. This is, indeed, an album I am happy to have listened to prior to my impending death.
Spotify doesn't let you play this album ... be like Spotify
Yeah, fuck this noise.
As soon as I hit play I felt like I was in a martial arts film and walked into a room where 100 guys just went all out trying to kick the shit out of me. Just dodging kicks and flipping two guys into each other while fists are flying. That was a great thing to have heard but man that was intense. I would love to see this live. I tried playing around with the playback speed but this is 100% at the right tempo. I don't even know what to say.
This seems like one of those albums that you can use to set a bar for yourself. Jazz has so much room to play. This is obviously like a punk mentality. Over and over it made me think of tap dancing, and that move where it looks like the Dancer will fall forward on their face but they keep catching themselves. I kind of wish it was able to sound a little more varied at times. It had it's moments of conversation between the drums and brass. Interesting.
Chaotic and extravagant. Love the pure energy and skill it has behind it.
This was just noise.
I guess im not musically educated or old enough to really appreciate what these musicians are doing. However, this aggressive free jazz record is not something I can enjoy at all.
TMR but again, what is going on
I only found playlist on YTM with most of the songs. I believe that whole album would not sounded any better for me.
I used to think that I like music but this project has proven me wrong, over and over again.
It's as if they recorded a bunch of musicians separately, said play whatever you want as long as it's fast and loud, and then played them all on top of each other
Nah fam this ain’t the one for me.
Bom álbum de Big Band mais experimental. Celest Gumiho.
I'm sorry, but I can't finish this. I realize the musicianship behind it is good, but it was an amazing feeling just to turn it off.
I have never been more thankful for ads on YouTube. 1/5
Interesting and an accomplished doesn’t really mean an enjoyable listen.
Every track starts with the same instrument and tempo. The recording is not good. Understandable as it’s quite old. It’s like sea anemone. It tries to go everywhere but can’t go far in any direction.
this was a... tough one. Advant-Garde jazz is a super acquired taste, and a whole album of it can be pretty rough. i get the artistry about it, and the idea that music should just be free flowing, but man does it make it not really accessible. I think the back half of the album saved this from being a one star, but honestly this was a kinda rough 40 minutes.
Art is subjective but this is buns.
Is this jazz punk? Does the band also smash and destroy all their instruments at the end of every concert?
What a crazy album. Amazing work done by the musicians that were part of this project. Really interesting album.
A little to chaotic for me. Might try again during the day instead of late at night. Probably not though.
‘Oops! All Saxophone Always Forever All The Time’ isn’t as good a title, but it’s what i’m pitching. i grew up playing sax, practicing safe sax, and eventually graduating to unprotected group sax — album plays like sensory overload gangbusters for me! absolutely belongs on this list.
I definitely did need to hear this. First track is particularly hard work, but stick with it.
don't trust anyone who tells you that this is bad or too chaotic. the drums are lightning fast but methodical and rhythmic. the two saxophones may be screaming for their lives but they still have their moments of relative calm. it's fun!
Another jazz album that most would describe as noise.
The track sequencing lets this down a bit, and some variation would have been nice rather than all the fast songs then the slightly less fast ones, but this is so propulsive, frenetic, and original that it doesn't entirely matter. Slightly reduction in score because of the drum mix.
I’m usually not a fan of squeaky, avant- garde jazz. So i was surprised by how much i liked this. This album has structure and direction and some incredible sac playing (and harmonizing). Not my favorite music to listen to, but I can see why it’s on this list and I’m glad I heard it. It’s a 3.
It should have been an actual Ornette Coleman album instead.
It's great for 15 minutes, then I started to lose focus and it became random. John Zorn has made a lot of music in his career. Over 300 albums. And they're all very different. Most of them are easier to listen to than this album. Some of them are even worse. Favorite song: enfant
A wild collection of spastic cacophony, strictly for the snootiness jazzophiles. WARNING: This album may cause epileptic seizures.
As the soundtrack to an experimental disaster or war film, this would be 4 stars. Having two drum sets played in sync (a move I highly respect) creates this wall of sound that the saxophones, while always ahead of it, are constantly on the run from it. It creates a highly chaotic sound that is very much its own thing. And then having the audacity to make the
I think I might just not be the biggest fan of jazz.
I am sure this took so much talent to make, but I just could not sit there for 45 minutes listening to the absolute cacophony of whatever that was.
Musically impressive (I think?) but would just never listen to this
This is a joke right? Probably a reason this isn't on Spotify as it cant be classed as music? Absolutely awful. Sounds like someone put a bunch of instruments into a tumble dryer and recorded it.
Pure jazz chaos. Coincidentally I was watching a video about Jackson Pollock right before listening to this and it’s basically the musical equivalent. It really exudes the energy and feel of New York City without giving anything tangible. Pretty cool! 5/10
Just... wow. Chaotic calm!!
Ég setti þessa djassplötu á fóninn á meðan ég var í vinnunni. Þægilegt að hlusta á djass á meðan en svo fer þessi plata í gang og ég gat eiginlega ekki einbeitt mér. Þetta var alveg hreint afskaplega erfitt áhlustunar og ég var svo feginn þegar yfir lauk. Aldrei aftur takk.
Chaos incarnate. Jazz on jazz on jazz and some of it sounded okay
Its all a bit unnecessary!! There is some tuneage in there but in the words of Otis Lee Crenshaw ' a Jazz band is just the sound of a blues band being pushed down a set of stairs"
This sounds like someone is trying to play 3 hours of jazz, but only had an hour of studio time to record.
I think Naked City would have been a better choice for this list.
This kind of jazz is just too free form and random for me.
This starts in pure cacophony. I actually thought I was accidentally playing it on 2x speed. I am NOT liking this so far. It is painful to listen to. When will it end. I don't think I can make it through 41 minutes of this. Sounds like 4 albums are playing at once and my dog is playing with a squeaky toy during it. I keep thinking it's going to change to actual music at some point but it's not. This is torturous. Truly ear splittingly awful. I typically love jazz and this is making me hate the whole genre. The best parts are the parts when each song ends. It's stressing out my dog! I feel like if someone enjoys this, they're the worst kind of pretentious. yes I understand that it's probably musically impressive to accomplish but that doesn't make it GOOD. It gets SLIGHTLY better in the middle but not by enough. Sounds like geese being massacred. Or a middle school band of bees on cocaine. If I was Ornette Coleman, I'd be truly upset by this. Sounds like a circus caught on fire. If this isn't in the bottom 10, I'll be amazed. Hopefully I can give it no stars, but if I have to give it one, it will be because it made me appreciate any other music more. I'm not even half-way through it. I desperately hope my neighbors can't hear this through the floor, because if I were them I'd call in a noise complaint to the cops. But I also can't bear to wear headphones while listening to this.
***A good album
Not much fun to listen to, but it's got some interesting ideas. I prefer the latter part of the album where there's some actual melody, but mostly feel like this would mean more to me if I was at all familiar with Ornette Coleman's work. I'm not sure how many people ARE familiar with his work, so the lack of context doesn't do this any favors. Part of me thinks it's kinda great though that something this dissonant and out there made the list at all. Ultimately, I respect it but wouldn't listen to it again.
Unlistenable. Tried listen with my all, but it is the type of jazz for people who absolutely love jazz with their soul, or people who hate themselves. Clearly the musicians are passionate for the music and they have respect for its creator because why else would 5 talented musicians come together to make this cacophony of noise. Lineup consists two saxophone players, two drummers and a bass player. Imagine if everyone was giving a full on solo of every note all the time at once. Midway thru I thought it was going to pivot and get better which it did for a moment before continuing with the emotional car crash that is this album.
Tracks are not available at my region.
Sounded cool, not really a straight piano album though
Dad- 3 Mom- 4 Mike- NA Lori- 4 Michael- 4 Miles- NA Cole- NA Avg- 3.75
Oh man. What the hell was that?!?! I kind of like the aesthetic even though it was borderline unlistenable. Pure chaos. 1.5/5
Frenetic
I feel like for this review thing to make sense I need to listen to an album in its entirety regardless if I enjoy it or not. This album was an exception. I could not get through more than 4 and a half songs. It just felt like noise. Call me uncultured or incapable of understanding the “complexity” of whatever this is, but I will never be listening to it again.
Solid way to start to the morning. Very peaceful and tranquil but active songs to get the day going. Always love random jazz
this was nice to have on as background music for the purposes to come up with a rating for it but idk if I’d choose to just listen to this any other time. Once I started the next song I forgot what the song prior sounded like they all sounded the same to me eventually BUT I FULLY RESPECT IT and think it’s cool & impressive
This album was so much fun. I loved the chaotic and free spirit nature of it. Sometimes it sounds like nonsense and just a bunch of noise at once, and that's a part of the charm for me. Music doesn't have to have verses easy melodies or harmony, its just sound that evokes emotion. This whole album was like some of my favorite parts in the improvisational music I listen to. Similar to the song Dark Star by the Grateful Dead. The start of the song was just a springboard for free form improv. I found myself not being able to work while listening because I was trying to parse out what was going on. If you listen closely, you can hear the instruments communicate, and respond to each other, even in the midst of all the chaos. I will definitely give this album another listen when i need that kind of energy
Last couple of tracks had some good bits. Otherwise not my jam.
Nope
Im sure this was fun to play, however, it was not fun to listen to.
Finally got around to listening. Wow
Sometimes you should be asking "Why?" and not just, "Why Not?".
It's pretty cool, but literally gave me a headache. 3.5/5
That was crazy. I have to be honest, I didn't hate that as much as I thought I would going in. If you can make it through the first couple of songs, there's some interesting stuff here. I listened to this on a YouTube playlist so I'm not sure if all the songs were there or if they were in order. So, props to Zorn, he's clearly talented and can play sax with incredible speed. I was less impressed with the drums. A lot of this album seemingly formless noise, but there are some cool moments where everything comes together and sounds really good. This is my first foray into avant-garde jazz and it actually might be more my thing than your standard jazz, somehow. Notable tracks were "Good Old Days," "Ecars," and "Broad Way Blues." These actually had some good hooks and substance that you can come back to. It was an interesting listen and experience, but I wouldn't revisit. 2/5 for me.
Listened to a few of the songs. Interesting, but not my thing.
Different for sure
The first five minutes of this ensures that it can never be anything but a one-star review. Fuck that. I don't care that people will generously call it avant-garde - it's either pretentious wank, or just noise. The result is the same. Sad thing is that interesting things actually start to (slowly and unevenly) happen from 5 minutes and forward, but it’s not nearly enough, and nothing about this is essential listening. No shit this garbage is not on Spotify.
Couldn’t find this album but kind of cool, instrumental 2.5-3
Jestas mitä jazzia. Nyt ei auennut yhtään.
Super interesting album. Energetic and chaotic. I really liked it, and I know I would have loved it if I had known any of the Ornette Coleman charts they were riffing on. I just love saxophones and these guys are virtuosos. Had to listen on YouTube and got some jump scares from the commercials.
An assault on the senses in the worst way possible, and I say this as a jazz guy
Voldsom middagsmusikk hos Guffa
Dette er en sjanger jeg ikke hadde gjetta at eksisterte... Lungekapasiteten imponerer en astmatiker. Skjønner godt at dette albumet ikke er på spotify.
1/10 Oh god. The devil horn. In stereo, playing different random notes while a drummer violently disagrees with them both on anything that might be construed as a cohesive sound. It's relentless, although on a couple of occasions a tune tries to break out, only to be brutally assaulted around the head with a barrage of sax notes blasted at the full limit of the infernal instrument's gasping worst. I ran out of time and inclination to make it to the end, but unless there is some kind of musical epiphany halfway through, I don't think anything was going to happen to change my mind.
good
Well that was a frenetic assault on the ear drums! Talent abounds here and it is used for discordant evil. Occasionally they find a groove where you can settle in and it feels like a port in a storm. Chaos to the max and high energy.
Getoeter! En niet een beetje. Wat een zenuwenmuziek zeg. De koppijn! Geen idee wie die Ornette Coleman is, maar ik hoop dat zij er plezier aan heeft beleefd. Ik niet, in ieder geval.
Vrije jazz volgens wiki. Nou wiki, er is een verschil tussen vrije jazz en een kakofonie...
Free jazz fusion met thrashcore a la Napalm Death. Ik vrees vooraf al het ergste, dus op zich kan het alleen maar meevallen. Het begint gelijk al met chaotische toeters, waar weinig melodie in te herkennen valt. Op de achtergrond rost er iemand (of schijnbaar 2 mensen) zo chaotisch mogelijk op een partij drums. Af en toe komt er een stuk voorbij waar wel enige samenhang in zit, dan is het een soort jazzcompositie met wat hardere strakkere rocky drums. Jazzdrum is meestal een soort van ritmisch getik, terwijl bij andere muziekstijlen vaak harder op de vellen wordt geslagen. Ik heb het uit kunnen luisteren. Het was voornamelijk chaotische jazz, niet de stijl jazz die ik prefereer, voor zover ik uberhaupt iets met jazz heb. Ik had het allemaal erger verwacht, al was ik voorbereid op het ergste. Napalm Death was een stuk kutter. Ik kom op een 1,5 uit, wat ik graag naar beneden afrond.
That is some serious cacophony, organized chaos, and epically talented musicians. It's a bit of a difficult listen because there is so much happening and it's impossible to digest the entire thing in one sitting.
TRASH
Didn’t hear this, read some of the reviews and will give it a miss. Three stars as a general.
This is a stressful album. It was going to be one star, because it makes me feel like I've had too much caffeine for a solid week, but I'm going to up it to a 2, for the interesting things it does. Two drummers & two sax in a 5 piece band, and mixing one sax on each side? The influence of punk? The way I feel i went thru a battle? All something important to say.
I finally got this album on the 1001 Album Generator, and it’s definitely one of the most disliked albums on there. Honestly, I don’t see why, compared to a lot of other John Zorn albums, or even avant-garde and experimental music in general, this one is pretty straightforward. This album is essentially Zorn’s reimagining of Ornette Coleman’s free jazz compositions, but filtered through his own chaotic, high-speed avant-garde style. Rather than a traditional tribute, Zorn’s take is aggressive, noisy, and packed with punk energy. Zorn plays alto saxophone alongside Tim Berne, while Joey Baron handles drums. Baron, a longtime Zorn collaborator, is highly respected in avant garde circles. As for Ornette Coleman, I know his name well, but I haven’t really explored his music yet. Hopefully, I’ll finally get around to it one day.
Nog nooit iets van John Zorn gehoord. Een leuk concept om free jazz in korte hardcore-achtige nummers te spelen. Het werkt ook best goed. Ik ben wel wat verrast door hoe 'metal' de drums klinken, met veel reverb. Misschien heeft dat iets met het tijdperk te maken waarin het is opgenomen. "Feet Music" heeft ook al zo'n rare 80s-sound, net als "Broad Way Blues". Het worden een beetje rare sitcom-jingles zo. Ik heb zo'n vermoeden dat Ornette Coleman zelf niet eens in deze lijst staat, wat wel weer typisch zou zijn voor hoe blank de keuzes tot nu toe zijn. Alsof de lijst door Rolling Stone is samengesteld. Misschien dat de schrijver ook wel echt van Rolling Stone is, geen idee wie deze lijst heeft gemaakt eigenlijk.
40+ minutes of aggressive saxophone noodling - I didn’t find this terrible. Although it was tedious at times, it wasn’t actually worse than some of the disco or Brit pop albums on the list.
Couldn't get this on my streaming service, but I know Coleman's stuff. Too bad, I like the source material.
As a huge fan of jazz, even this is a too avant-garde for me for most of the tracks. Most of it just sounds like repetitive, poorly executed bebop. My enjoyment picked up a bit at the end of the album, but the entire first half of tracks was very, very tough to get through
Absolutely wild, I feel completely exhausted after, & plan on never listening to it ever again.
Fucking hell. This is the most exciting jazz album, no — the most exciting album that I’ve heard in ages. What an onslaught, but it still has that great thing jazz does where if you focus your hearing in on one specific aspect you basically get a different song. I’ve never listened to John Zorn, but you can tell the influence he had on some of the early Mars Volta stuff for sure, and I now need to go check out the rest of his stuff. Breathtaking, challenging, thrilling, kinda obnoxious and scary. A thousand times this over some of the boring bland shit on this list.
I've heard of John Zorn before in the context of him collaborating with Mike Patton so I knew I'm going to hear some absolutely fucked up music. And I wasn't wrong. I do think this is something people should hear to experience how weird music can get. While it didn't give me a headache I'm still only going to give it 1/5
5 or 2 depending on the day so a 3.2
I had to hunt THAT down? I should have just cheated on this one. (ntm.)
Wow...that was a lot. Objectively too much. From the first notes I thought I was going to give this a one star review, but then it started to grow on me a bit. I can't say I will ever listen to it again. Although I suppose it could be good background music for doing some house cleaning while hopped up on speed. In the end it was unique and interesting and crazy enough that I was thoroughly glad I listened to it.
Pandemonium. Full frontal assault. Finds a more measured groove in the second half. Not really my cup of tea, but giving it two stars for talent and commitment.
I can absolutely appreciate that different types of music can connect with different people and honestly that's sort of the coolest thing about music for me - the discovery - finding what affects me and allows me to really connect with it. When I read about people who like and appreciate this though, I try to understand what it is that they hear here that I don't. It just doesn't make sense to me. I hear a cacophony, nothing more. How anyone can listen to this and hear music, and can connect with whatever is happening here is baffling and outside of my comprehension. This is the opposite of everything that I know and love about the music that I enjoy listening to.
No......just no
TOO MUCH!
338/1001 🌗🌑🌑🌑🌑
I haven't listened to this record in decades; It was nice to come back to it. It is definitely lacking in tonal variation, but if one is in the mood for a blend of free jazz mixed with hardcore- this is the album to go to. Zorn's mid 80s to late 90s output is mostly stellar, and this is not exception. An exhilarating and enjoyable ride. i'd give it 94/100, but 4 stars is our closest approximation.
Nazi scum can fuck off
This was either great or terrible. Definitely glad I listened to it but I doubt I ever will again. The second half gets slightly more listenable but the first half is really... something.
I talked to John Zorn on the phone once for an hour as a prelude for an interview that, after I went out and bought the albums of his he suggested we discuss, elected not to do. Cold, but it's dog-eat-dog for an independent label owner. This was one of the albums he didn't want to talk about, that it had been talked about to death. I will say if you like this explosion of saxophone and drums and joy and rage, it's more of a gateway into Zorn's peculiar sonic world than it is Coleman's. If you plead for it to stop, than neither is likely for you. If you ever thought Oingo Boingo would sound better tumbling down a mountain, get ready!
Woof, that's over. Going to put on some soothing vibraphone lullabies or ambient music now.
Not gonna lie I kinda loved the chaos.
Whoa, this is dope. Love the dual altos and general sense of barely-controlled chaos.
Not my cup of tea
ummmmm...huh. Thrash-jazz, eh? I feel this is like modern art at the museum. It's meant to create a reaction, even if it is "WTF is this?" and I think it succeeds on that level. But is it music I will ever listen to again? Nope.
I see it more as an artistic statement than enjoyable music. I guess it needs to exist for greater things to be created afterwards. Dare I say some parts aren't THAT insufferable? Also, it reminded me of Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music.
On the Venn diagram of people who love experimental jazz on one side and angry, fast punk on the other, there is a microscopic silver of an overlap. And for those people, "Spy vs Spy" is undoubtedly a masterpiece. John Zorn has invented a genre too unstable to really exist, like the Large Hadron Collider smashing particles at near light speed to see what emerges before it disappears a mere fraction of a second later. He called it thrash jazz and like those particles, it had no chance of survival for very long. Having said this, I actually kind of like it in small doses. It's frantic, bizarre, thought provoking. I spent the time listening to this one sketching whatever came to mind, trying to mimic the intensity and constant left turns on this album. Given that I'm unlikely to revisit this album, that should serve as a good reminder that at one time, I did kind of like this beautiful mess of a record.
4/16/25. Perhaps I just didn't understand what was happening in this record, I found it to be noisy as hell.
Not available on Spotify, but judging by his other albums, it's instrumental jazz - good instrumental jazz, but "jazz" and "instrumental " are both strikes for me.
Did not love it, did not hate it entirely either. On some level I can appreciate it. But it is not something I would listen to normally
Insane
Horrible, screechy, unpleasant noise.
not available on spotify
This is WILD. Not entirely unpleasant but not particularly listenable either. I was trying to work and this was just far too distracting. Otherwise it's kind of 'neat' I guess - like everyone seemed to know what they were doing and moved together and made it sound a bit cohesive, though I couldn't really make out what they were up to.
I gave this about ten minutes on Youtube and it's borderline unlistenable. It sounds like I let my 6-year-old and her friends loose on a saxophone and a drum kit and recorded the results. I understand there must have been a lot of talent required to perform this, but that talent would've been better spent actually producing somewhat coherent music.
Pretty cool. Surprisingly so.
Epileptischer Anfall für die ohren
I found this fusion to be a strong joinder of the best parts of punk and jazz. Not something I particularly enjoyed or would return to, but you gotta give points for creatively -- and sheer endurance -- on a project such as this. Listened to: at 5MW. Favorite tracks: idk bc it wasn't on spotify
Hardcore jazz just isn't my thing. And I'm too old to learn to appreciate it. I just get a headache. I'm sorry I couldn't finish the album.
Someone's drilling holes somewhere in my apartment complex and I think it really ties the whole thing together.
ermmm crazy weird jazz wth
Hard to get behind. I appreciate the concept. Don't have to like it.
I only lasted two minutes for the first listen. The second listen I endured the whole thing. But it was hell.
I don’t know John Zorn or Ornette. While listening to this, I kept wondering if what I was listening to was categorized as acid jazz and also thinking that if it was, I do not like acid jazz. I didn’t listen to the whole album, probably only about 15 minutes of it so it could’ve gotten much better, but as it stands, this is my opinion
This was wild and unnecessarily noisy. Is it really possible to love this music?
I was familiar with the music of Ornette and had heard John Zorn, so I was (somewhat) prepared for the onslaught. Still, it took a few songs to tune into their wavelength. Once I did, though, I was rewarded with killer chops and a punk approach to old-school avante garde jazz. My only gripe is with the sequencing. So many of the tunes sounded the same, with many of them even being in the same key. Things didn't really differ until the last quarter of the album. If they could have varied it up a bit I would have enjoyed this more. Still, it was a nice change of pace and it made me want to revisit Zorn's and Coleman's music.
Wish I could appreciate this but it is just too much of a chaotic mess for me
First 20 minutes, nothing short of painful. After that there were some tracks where I could detect some rhythm, and tap my toes. I maybe gained some kind of education from this? Idk, definitely isn’t anything I would include in a “must listen” book. But it’s different from the dozens of Brit pop albums, so there’s that. 1.5 stars
Y’all are listening to this? It stressed me out. Truly can’t imagine anyone enjoying this.
very energetic! must have been exhausting to play.
This is not music, don't care what anyone says. Truly awful collection of noises