Reviews (page 7 of 8)
Like they threw an orchestra down the stairs at Whetherspoons. 0 stars.
finally, an album that answers the question "what if the ending of 21st Century Schizoid Man lasted 40 goddamn minutes?"
Hm, eigentlich schade, warum spielt man eine 33er LP auf 78 ab? Andererseits sehr überraschend, ein Saxophon auf Speed zwischen den ganzen Singer-Songwritern und Post-Grunge Bands zu finden. Da hat der Ersteller der 1001-Liste sich wohl im Drogenrausch versehen.
A full noise misch-masch. Not for my ears. I would like to give it a thumb down. Definitely not my cup of tea.
What the fuck man?
Not available on Spotify
I could not find this one, but as I recall, this must be jazz and I probably wouldn't have liked it anyhow.
Spy v. Spy is an iconic comic from Mad Magazine. Which, it was neat to find out, was created by a Cuban cartoonist specializing in political satire who fled Cuba as Fidel Castro nationalized the Cuban press. Now I have to do my best to forget about John Zorn's "Spy vs. Spy," in the hopes that the chaotic jazz noise will not pop into my head any time I see Antonio Prohías' black and white bomb-obsessed spies. I wish the spies had stuck a bomb in Zorn's saxophone.
It's like everyone in a jazz band is performing their most hard core solo at the same time without paying any attention to what the rest of the band is doing. It is the aural equivalent of flashing, flickering lights and should come with a warning that it can cause seizures. Pure cacophony.
This album reminds me of a specific scene from Kindegarten Cop. Teacher: You know, kindergarten is like the ocean. You never want to turn your back on it. Schwarzenegger enters his classroom to find absolute chaos. Kids running around screaming. Some painting the chalkboard red. Another dumping a bag of flour everywhere. And a kid dancing all over the piano keys. That scene is this album. And then… Schwarzenegger: SHUT UUUUPPPPP!!!! Shut up, shut up, shut uuuuppppp. He refers to them as monsters. I agree.
This is hot garbage. So little, if any, was enjoyable with this heap of trash. I recognize there were two drummers on this album, but never before have I thought music could contain too much drumming! But I don't want to blame the drums solely, because John Zorn must be held accountable for this discordant piece of shit.
Thrashy improv-sounding jazz? Anyone who knows me could have immediately guessed that this would not be my thing. But here we are. What an absolute nonstop cacophony. Couldn't have enjoyed this less.
I am so, so sad that a jazz album is going to go down amongst the closest ones I came to turning off without finishing. Not only is it purposefully cacophonous...the music also sounds very much the same throughout. Really, really disappointing way to present avant garde jazz--you've already broken the structure, can I get some more ideas at least?
Hosting a dinner party with people you absolutely hate and want to get rid of as soon as possible? Put this album on and watch them scramble for the door. Oh good they actually like it? Run! For the love of god just run! Forget about your belongings, get of there before they turn you into one of them!
I can see what this is in the worst 20-rated albums on this list. It was described as free jazz, but that is just a fancy way of saying it's not music, it's just noise. If you're looking to increase your stress levels or find yourself overwhelmed by chaotic sounds, you might consider giving this album a listen. If you want to stay relaxed, I strongly recommend steering clear of it.
Worst one yet
Sounds like a lorry carrying a load of drums and saxophones had a road traffic accident
Probably not what I was looking for when listening to this album. It’s jazz, but frenetic and loud, and all over the place. I think the musicians are doing incredible work, it’s very clever, but it’s not what I’m looking for listening right now, which might adversely affect my low score.
i know intellectually that this is not a 1/5, that the original compositions are beautiful and these rearrangements are very deliberately, thoughtfully abrasive - i know that my reaction to the thing is the record working as intended. but this project is ultimately for my own amusement and reference, and i very much did jump ship after 12 minutes because the listening experience stressed me out real bad.
Not available in my Spotify region, YouTube works. But it’s no loss, this album is not for me
I like jazz, but I'd rather listen to a room filled with 100 cats collectively scraping their claws on a chalkboard than this.
Racket made for dickheads
The sound of my brain falling down the stairs. Jesus what a noise. This may be all virtuoso and stuff but it's bloody awful. Zero out of ten
This is the equivalent of modern art in some ways. It doesn’t make sense to me. I get that are needs to expand and experiment, but sometimes it gets a little ridiculous. This truly is an assault on the ears and while it may be something to listen to before you die. Dear God, please don’t let this be the last thing I listen to before I die!!
Makes Throbbing Gristle sound not so terrible.
I like to consider it a blessing in disguise when albums aren’t available on Spotify, and despite the kind offer from another user to send over the tracks, I’ve opted to decline and consider myself saved from a potential ear bleed
horrible!
Wasn't on Spotify.
Pros: * Cool album art * Impressively low 'fucks given' count when it comes to following musical conventions * 'Feet Music' was genuinely enjoyable Cons: * Bit samey * Kinda unlistenable
Wild, man! Outrageous! Unlistenable! You know when the band finishes a big number and holds out the last note, and every musician fills time simultaneously until the one final stinger all played together? This album is that long final note of chaos, but played the entire album length. I tried listening to Zorn around the time I was getting more into Mike Patton, both pushing the musical boundaries (especially Patton's solo work). I thought I just didn't understand Zorn at the time, or heard a few bad tracks. I honestly can hear some melodic music by skilled musicians hiding in here in parts of tracks like "Word For Bird" and "Enfant," but as a whole, it's too "everybody solo!" for there to be much cohesion. "Rejoicing" is a highlight here.
no
I just don’t get it. Jazz isn’t my strong point anyway and I guess this is the jazz equivalent of thrash metal, but I just didn’t get it. I listened all the way through and it’s all atonal noise. It’s a no from me, sorry John.
"The horror... the horror!!!!"
I was going to give this another chance. But it looks like the music gods heard my prayer. Because it has been removed from Spotify. 1/5
unlistenable
Extremely tiring
Could not play on spotify
This has to be a joke, right? Christ on a bike.
They just played all the notes at once for 40 minutes. John Zorn owes me advil.
I think there was one song, maybe 2/3rds of the way through, that was sort of listenable. And that's being kind. The rest is complete garbage. Nothing about this is interesting, compelling, or good. I was listening in the car with one of my kids (I like to torture them at times) and she, at one point, didn't realize that we were on the 7th song of the album because it "all sounded exactly the same."
Why the hell is this included? It’s like he went into the studio trying to create music that would drive someone insane within seconds. It felt like random fast saxophone notes paired with someone doing a shitty impression of Alex Van Halen’s drum intro for “Hot for Teacher”. Worst album out of the 800+ recommended so far
Just noise
Felt like just a bunch of noise; not my thing.
i haven't heard this, i tried but i couldn't
Yeah, no
Just an obnoxious clashing of saxophone solos layered on top of each other with no consideration for making the music actually sound good.
I read a couple of the reviews on the site, and the few positive ones urged me to go in with an open mind, which I very much tried to do. 'Assault on the senses' is absolutely the way to describe the first half of the album, I hadn't expected an improvised jazz record to be so intense but it absolutely does borrow from stuff like thrashcore. As it's not on Spotify, I listened on YouTube with ads, and the dulcet tones of Sean Bean advertising some phone company were a nice bit of light relief. It did improve in the second half, a lot more tuneful but still with a bit of edge. I don't think it's the worst thing we've had, but it's definitely not my cup of tea or particularly good. A 1/5, but could've been worse.
Ich finde dieses Album furchtbar. Mir ist diese Art Jazz zu chaotisch, zu unvorhersehbar. Das schöne ist, dass ich durch diese Liste überhaupt erst auf John Zorn aufmerksam geworden bin. Denn seine späteren Alben sind weniger avantgardistisch und gefallen durchaus auch mir.
the worst I've ever heard
Nicht gefunden
Nö!
This might be torcher Jazz. Crazy an violent. Has its place, but not for me.
John Zorn is a jazz saxophonist who is among the most prolific recording artists in history. Spy Vs. Spy is his tribute to jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman, who is known for his free jazz style of improvisation. Zorn has recorded an incredible range of music, and this is some of the most difficult to listen to. The performers are technically talented remarkably so. While it is impressive that they are able to play this work, it is not a pleasant listening experience. It's aggressive, noisy, and frequently dissonant.
Listened to this one on Youtube. I guess I'm not a fan of Ornette Coleman. It was a bit of noise jazz and I appreciated the Youtube ad breaks to give my ears a break. Anyway, John Zorn seems cool. The next video that came on was way more enjoyable. My taste is not refined enough to enjoy that kind of music.
What the fuck. I almost cried after realizing that all the songs would sound the god damn same. There is absolutely no way to tell one track from the other. Also, who the hell told John Zorn that he should make music, let alone record an entire album? I hope that person's pillow has two warm sides. There is no actual rhythm to these songs. Every single one of them is a bunch of trumpets and drums and clarinets and saxophones put together and the deaf producer said, "There we go, that's music". I don't think I will ever understand why this album is in the top 1001 albums that I must listen to before I die. I would rather die than listen to this again.
As I near the end of this project, so many times I have had to reevaluate my feelings about jazz, most of them being very positive. I have heard so many amazing albums I have loved! This is the album I will play when asked, "How could anyone hate jazz?" Oh, boy, I hate this so so so much! This is why. Mine ears hurt.
This is why people don’t like jazz. This ruins it for anyone else. This sounds like a junior high band warming up. Nothing to see here.
Yesterday I got Miles Davis - Kind of Blue followed by…this. Opposite ends of the jazz spectrum for sure. I gave Kind of Blue five stars, so logically this gets: 0⭐️ (sigh) 1⭐️
Whoah. This is pretty awesome... i don't believe i've heard anything like it. Though phrases like "free jazz" or "thrash jazz" already kind of get me to what i'm likely to make out of it. As everything is saying, this is some challenging music, and i'm going to end up on the side that says it doesn't work for me. I feel like there is about 25% of the time that if you even isolated a single instrument (particularly the saxes and rums) that you would even want to listen to that single instrument. And then they take all 5 instruments (sax, sax, drums drums, bass) and mass them together... and you get this. I will say that i appreciated listening to it, definitely an experience expansion for me. I love someone's comment about what would happen if you casually dropped this on your playlist while driving in a car with someone. To me it just highlight the stressful nature of this music... i feel confident that if Peace Warriors suddenly became the U.S. national anthem, there would be sudden increase in the number of stabbings across the country.
Two bad eggs in a row. Sounds like five different musicians playing separate songs in sperate rooms that are now being played all at the same time.
Only listened to a bit of this on YouTube as it doesn’t seem to be on Apple Music or Qobuz. Had to turn it off as it sounded like all the instruments were being played by different people in different places at different times. Just a cacophony of noises.
Juu ei. Ei minulle.
I thought I would like the shorter jazz pieces, but this just sounds like chaos. Did not finish. 1 star.
I cannot
Truly, truly, terrible! I think Spotify removed this album to save the world from the pain it causes. YouTube of course had it, and by the end my ears were only bleeding a little. So maybe not the worst thing on the list, but it is pretty far down there!
Not on Spotify. 0/5
I'm glad this is here because of the comments and because it made me think, like genuinely question myself and what is right and wrong and nice and not enjoyable. Who knows.
This is what I call "noise torture." I got through maybe a third of it but couldn't stand it. Definitely not for me. Some sort of experimental music.
Rating: 0/10 This is fucking shit, no words can describe how awful this is. Worst album so far and might go down as the worst album on this list.
This music was trash. I even like jazz, but there was no theme or variation, just a group of people vomiting up whatever notes came to mind. Awful trash
Nothing but maddening saxophone and drum noise🥴 Worst album until now. 0/5
It's not on Spotify so I couldn't listen to it
Not available on Spotify :(
no ❤️
Helemaal kut dit.
While I admire the concept, the result is a one trick pony gag that goes on too long. The kind of musical gag that only an insufferable hipster can attempt.
Jazz caótico. No se distingue del ruido sin más. Un 1.
you can't be serious
Jazz is stupid and I don’t get it
Noise. This guy has like a million albums on spotify and they all sound like my 16 month old smashing a little piano.
Imagine the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, 8.0 magnitude, unexpected, and violent; but in a room full of instruments (especially saxophones). This is what this album sounds like, with the only difference being if exposed to the poor unexpecting province of Sichuan you'd have many more casualties than the 87,587 registered by the earthquake.
Nope.
I think maybe if I was smoking formaldehyde soaked cigarettes and madly charting conspiracy theories about how the postal service is full of lizard people on a white board in a basement, this music would totally work. Maybe.
Terrible
awful noise
Made me feel sick. I don’t believe anyone actually listens to this. The ultimate pretentious ‘music’.
This album should have been called insects dodging traffic. Did they say everybody go to a different room, play you instrument as fast as you can and then we will put it together?? Organized chaos makes sense for one don't but over and over it's just noise and really loses it's purpose for me.
When this album started off I was concerned about the band's safety as they were clearly falling down a flight of stairs. But as the noise continued I realized that this is a very long flight of stairs or perhaps they were just tuning up. It turned out that it totally didn't matter if they were in tune or not because this album is a noisy piece of garbage. However, I did enjoy jumping around the room like crazy to this music. I got some pretty good cardio but it could've been so much better if Richard Simmons had been asked to do some vocals.
What the hell even is this? My ears feel tortured. Easily the worst album I’ve heard in my life.
FRANTIC & FRENZIED This will be my 1,046th album rated. There's so much boring music on the list I've come to really appreciate the ones that sound like no other. However, I still hated this ugh I never want to hear any of that again ha
did not listen
56 seconds. That’s a new record! That’s the shortest amount of time I’ve spent listening to an album before I had to turn it the fuck off.
This gave me PTSD and made me shit myself.
This is way too cacophonous for me. I couldn’t get through it, so I listened to Ornette Coleman’s “Change for the Century” instead and that was beautiful.
not very good. aggressive drums and horns ruin this
what a mess
Nee man.
C'était quelque chose pis jle comprends pas.
I could only stomach seven minutes of this. It is genuinely one of the most stressful and headache-inducing experiences of my life. How is it possible to find this enjoyable? I would confess to crimes I had never committed after the opening 15 seconds just to make it stop. I've selected the first track as my favourite, but really I mean the first second or so, when hope still existed.
Uh, no thanks.
Absolutely unlistenable. This is anxiety. I hated every second of this. I am sure somebody likes this but, to me, this is a classic example of “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” Worst album I have heard in years. 1/5
This should not be on any ‘music you should hear’ lists as it sounds like a bunch of kids pretending to play instruments. Only could stand the first 8 minutes so it deserves a -1. Garbage.
Some of these "songs" sounds like every kids first time playing the organ sound effect on a keyboard, did not enjoy.
This album was a migraine in waiting. A dumpster fire that I could not extinguish fast enough. There's a reason why you can't find this streaming on a normal platform. Because it's hot garbage.
Unbridled hot garbage flowing through a sea of complete ridiculousness on it's way to my foot, so I can put it in someone's ass for making this.
My girlfriend forced me to turn it off after 20 seconds. I Thank her.
The first half is unrelentingly frenetic. Not for me. Too exhausting. By the time the slightly less chaotic later half came around I was so done with the whole thing. I’m going to go find somewhere to eat my lunch in silence.
Intense free jazz. Got through it, but was a bit of a struggle
I'd call this avant-garde, but the number of different letters in the term "avant-garde" makes it way too diverse a term to apply to that drivel. That was 41 minutes of utter nonsense.
Was this not just the same thing for 50 minutes? I don't get this.
I mean... these are obviously talented musicians, but this was pretty awful. There is a reason nobody uses two drummers. In their defense it did get slightly more musical in the last 4 songs, but it was still a pretty painful listen. I knew it was bad when an Applebee's ad came on and I was happy for the break.
I don't get it.
No.
Why would you do this
oh my god. this... okay this album gives me a headache. i don't like it very much. this is like... actual freeform. actual avantgarde jazz. drums pound at unimaginable tempos. saxophones squawk like a pair of birds. there's brief periods of stuff that i am able to follow but the big majority of this album is actually... i just didn't like it. it's not for me at all. i would say if you're an academic who's trying to get all they can when it comes to avant-garde jazz samplings, listen to it. but this album actually ruined my day.
An album of nyc traffic
... the fuck? "Hey, I have an idea! Let's just randomly play our instruments as loud as we can!" "And we'll all be playing the same song?" "No way, why would we do that?! We can just call it 'art' and that way no one can criticize us!" Oh my god, this one sucked. Don't do drugs, kids.
It's like a never ending end of a song. Is it music or is it just noise? Just can't really appreciate any cohesion between the musicians beyond some fleeting moments. Rough listen.
Reading some of the other reviews, I understand why this may have been added to the list. Was it a minority choice to appease the jazz listeners? It was barely listenable, and I’m somewhat a fan of jazz. Every so often something would bloom from the chaos and be quite nice, but then degrade back into noise. The high point is that I made it through the whole album… 1.5/5
That was painful from start to finish. JZ’s Spy vs Spy is squeaky, out of tune sax over bombastic drums and fast paced bass; it’s more like noise with musical instruments than songs. I thought I heard music on two (possibly three) occasions but it devolved into noise with musical instruments very quickly each time. I didn’t think running could get much worse, then I went running while listening to this album. It was significantly worse than usual. Trashjazz in at (0.8*s)
Unable to listen to this on Spotify, but found the full album on YouTube., although I shouldn't have bothered. Wikipedia gives the genre as Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Jazz / Punk Jazz / Thrashcore which raises so many red flags. The album title, "Spy vs Spy: The Music of Ornette Coleman", is pushing the term "music" way beyond my defintion of music - I think that "vaguely musical noise" would probably be a better term. I'm 7+ minutes in, and the 5th track has just started, (I think), but it just sounds like one continuous track, and it's giving me a headache.
No esta en Spotify
Not available on Apple
It’s on YouTube as a 47 minute long video, which is probably its perfect form as just a meandering weird single entity. Free form jazz, much like all the other jazz we’ve had here so far, not for me.
You're taking the piss now
Wank
I tried... I really did... but could not tolerate this despite a few glimpses of something worth listening to sprinkled in there
Can’t make it more than 5 seconds. This is noise. Unbearable noise.
Like kicking an orchestra down the stairs of a mental hospital, I spent 40 mins laughing which may not have been the reaction they were hoping for. I imagine each musician was handed different 2 hour scores and told first one to finish wins. I honestly cant decide if this is genius or the sound track to a schizophrenic episode.
Extremely uncomfortable listen, can't imagine anyone actually sat through its entirety without going insane.
It's nothing but explosive Grindcore jazz in your face. I definitely felt the emotion they wanted to portray but my god this was a hard listen. I couldn't finish it. I don't even have a favourite song as it all felt nonsensical.
This is, without a doubt, the most chaotic thing that I've ever heard. Imagine like two different artists just being told to do whatever the hell they want but as loud and fast as they can with no relation to one another, that's this. I feel stress just sitting on my couch listening to it. He could be the most technically talented saxophonist in the world for all I know, but why would anyone want to listen to this? The only reasonable thing is the cover art which seems to depict various violent scenes, that makes sense to me after listening to this. To top it all off, it's not even on Spotify. Do not recommend. Favorite song: Feet Music Other: Good Old Days 2/14/24
AWFUL. Just too random.
Why did you do this John?
Album wouldn't play on Spotify
You hear one minute of this album and just wonder how the hell am I going to get through 40 more? ::Cue early memories at Nanny and Grampy's house:: The beginning is pure cacophony, like a moving truck full of instruments just flew off the road to avoid a puking cat. Then (almost exactly halfway through) the madness lines up for a few brief moments and it leaves you wondering if you're really just missing something, not understanding it or appreciating it. I'll admit the last half only improves by a small margin and listening to the full album gave me a physical stomach ache. But I can respect the free form style, the fast-pace, and the experiment. It's actually quite difficult to drum this unrhythmically and to make a saxophone squeal like that. I found myself referencing the minute's time to see which "song" I was on (and make some kind of correlation) which made it slightly more tolerable. My ears don't even really know what to do with this. It's like death-metal but make it jazz. It's either a 0 or a 5, no doubt it will be polarizing. I guess I'm glad I heard it but I would never put it on.
I actually was cracking up throughout this album. I went and listened to some of the originals and I appreciate Zorn condensing them down but it was just too chaotic. Between the squealing dolphins and dying elephants it was a riot. I think my brother-in-law could play sax in this band. 😂😂
This sounds like they told a bunch of ADHD children with no musical skill to pick up instruments and play them randomly. Car horns blaring while a set of monkeys smash drums, random elephants having their trunks stepped on, various flightless birds being picked up and punted, a litter of cats being thrown up against a wall of drums, etc. There are various ways to describe the absolute chaos over the first 20+ minutes of the album. I'm actually questioning whether myself and a group of my friends could go into a studio and spend a day to generate something more ridiculous to be passed off as music. Everything is mind boggling as to how this ended up on any sort of list by acclaimed music critics. Halfway through it all of sudden morphs into a somewhat controlled arrangement before mostly devolving again by the end of the album. All this did was confuse me whether I'm supposed to take this seriously or not. While I will never listen to this again something about it tickled me. At various intervals throughout the 40 minutes I found myself just listening and giggling like an idiot at my desk. Overall its surprising the amount of enjoyment I got out of an album that I can truly say I don't like at all. Consider me fully bamboozled. 0.05 star. Can't wait to see other reviews for this.
Can’t find it on Apple Music. Having read the Wiki review I can say for sure that I would have absolutely hated it. Whilst I have been surprised a few times by this list, I have complete conviction in my guesstimate of a 1 rating.
Absolutely fucking appalling
41 minutes of schreechy, squealing, headache-inducing chaos. Entirely too much going on and if anyone tells you they find this album sonically pleasing, they are lying to you. I award this album no points, and may God have mercy on its soul.
Everyone solo at the same time!
Irritating. Some tiny shows halfway through that they can make listenable music but they spent all their energy on being alternative instead
Album is not on Spotify, so no standout tracks. Lyrics/Vocals- N/A Instrumentals- I honestly don't fucking know Vibes- 0/5 Overall- 1/5 Avant garde is not for me, but I figured I'd give this a try. Holy shit I tried... it's a cacophony of noise. It sounds like somebody rubbing balloons together and stepping on rubber ducks while someone else fills a dryer full of loose change. My cat hated it. I let a few YouTube ads play all the way through just to get a break from it. That said though, it takes a level of impressiveness and talent to improv in such a way. This album was not for me, and I know very few people who would actually like this album if any at all. But, if you're looking for a quick way to end a college party then look no further.
Okay, looks like an early inspiration for Fantomas. With albums like this you have to appreciate the virtuosity, but it only gives you a binary approach - you love it, or you hate it, no in-between. And even though I tried, it was just a straight way to epilepsy. Still, a really interesting and original album.
I'm not ready for this...
Not my thing. I like jazz but this sounded pretty chaotic and didn't have much flow to it. 1/5.
100percent unlistenable
😥
Normalerweise höre ich die Alben immer beim Lernen, hätte mich bei dem aber glaube ich danach einliefern lassen müsse.
Ich verstehe Jess nicht.
Tandon Scale Rating: -1 Standouts: none Foot Notes: 1 1:18 in and I’m having an anxiety attack 2 nope I can’t do it Would I Listen Again: they played this to get information out of other spys Album Cover Rating: (1-5) 5 Album Name Rating: (1-5) 2
Oh god no, not sure what I was expecting but not that
La mayoría de las canciones son difíciles de digerir (la 1ra es insufrible) Prefiero por lejos el jazz clásico. Algunas canciones tienen forma y se pueden disfrutar (la 2da parte del disco). Si bien entiendo y respeto el planteo de una escucha distinta de la música dentro del disco y del estilo, no es algo que elegiría escuchar.
Not for me
Nope. The worst kind of “jazz”. I don’t even consider this music. If I could give 0 stars I would. Some people abuse the privilege of being able to release music.
Wat
The cover art is the best thing about the album along with the last track being over. It is as if someone who just finished doing 5½ fat long white lines of nose candy, picked up their instrument and yelled RECORD DAMN IT! I have gotten through 10 minutes yet I feel like I have spent a lifetime trying to find a melody.
There were glimmers of music which I could enjoy in here but they were few, far between and didn't last long. I think that enjoying this sort of music takes a lot of work, which I'm not prepared to put in for this.
That's to much random Jazz for my liking. I get it; it's Jazz, but it's not the type I enjoy. It comes at you hard right out the gate.
This album isn't available to me here.
1/5 for making me scour the internet to find this pile of sh!t.
it's literally just noise.
Freejazz trifft Punk. Ich finde es schrecklich....
Can't find it anywhere
Pure noise. Didn't like it at all.
In my professional opinion, they should have played better so that this album would have sounded better. I hate John Zorn more than I hate Jim Zorn after listening to this.
Now I have a headache.
Annoying it's not on Apple Music! Or at least it's hard to find so had to go to Youtube for this one. Well this already isn't some early morning easy listening. Alright not gonna lie I did not make it all the way through on this one. A song would end and then immediately go into what sounded like the exact same jazz-thrash as before. I'm very cool with music like that but not an entire albums worth. 1.5 and rounding down. I won't be back. Also John Zorn is probably Jim Zorn's brother so he can go right ahead and fuck himself.
did i get past the halfway point of this album. no. is there any reason to. i think probably also no.
If I ever want to cause a panic attack I will listen to this again. I struggled with the lack of melody, lack of beat, it was too chaotic. It felt like brass players trying to one up each other.
This is not an ensemble; it's a bunch of musicians playing random shit on their instruments for 40 minutes. How the fuck this made it on this list, I will never know. There are moments where you can somewhat hear the virtuosity of individual instruments, but the whole is not better than the sum of the parts. This is like listening to a bunch of children playing whatever the fuck they want on their instruments. My beginner youth orchestra sounded better than this. Maybe this is what jazz sounds like to aliens.
p615. 1989. 1 star Intolerable and unremittingly violent jazz improvisation. My ears are bleeding.
Dear god. Made it 11 minutes in and had to stop. Was on YouTube so I couldn’t even read anything to distract myself. Kept thinking something listenable would come on eventually. It did not
Holy everloving shit. I am glad I read a few album reviews to understand what the intention of this album was. That was hard to listen to. I do recognize the experimental nature of the music, and there are some cool components to it, especially the fact that it's all improv I think, but that was extremely overwhelming with no breaks and not particularly fun.
Warning: It's jazz. Bad jazz.
This is the worst thing I’ve heard in my life. Reminiscent of a school jazz band before the conductor has arrived, it could be used as a cruel and unusual punishment method. The only reason it gets 1 star is because it isn’t possible to give negative scores.
It’s never a good sign when I see that I’ve been generated album by an experimental saxophonist. You might not believe it, but it’s not really my scene. Smooth jazz trumpet, sure. Experimental saxophone, doubt it. Songs I already knew: none Favourites: none When was the last time you listened to an album that’s existence made you angry? This sounded like a bunch of people playing their own songs on their own instruments as fast as they can without a care in the world for what the other band members are doing. I feel like people that enjoy this are also the people who somehow manage to find beauty in a wet floor sign in an art gallery. If you’re deaf, you might be able to tolerate this. If not, stay away. It’s not worth harming yourself by listening to this mess.
Sounds like a bunch of kids playing random notes and beats. Not for me.
This is a lot of chaotic noise. I’m only on track one. We’ll see how the rest of this goes and whether I make it all the way through. Five minutes in: Ok, I’m hearing some actual melody. Six minutes in: Never mind. Nine minutes in: I’m tapping out.
Solo lo he encontrado en YouTube subido a las bravas por un usuario. Unos 40 minutos de jazz. Empieza demasiado arriba para mi gusto ¿heavy jazz? Esto es infumable, supongo que habrá quien le guste pero le meto una estrella y listo.
All throttle, no brakes. The musicianship here – no, the *athleticism* on display here is amazing. Sprinting through a marathon the whole time. I *like* Ornette Coleman. I love *his* free jazz. I love what he brought to music. There's a purity in his performances. Zorn's interpretation is too much. Now I'm going to listen to Trout Mask Replica to cleanse my palate.
Unlistenable
I need to hold 1s on other albums so I have something to mark this one with
I like jazz and many of free jazz in general but I was deeply disappointed in this album. It is actually a tribute but was way overdone. The first half is practically unlistenable and not accessible at all, it improves a bit in the second half but it is still messy, noisy without any direction or harmonies. I managed to listen to it but it was enough for once in my life, thank you very much.
Noisy, not enjoyable
Nope
Its John Zorn. Dont know what I was expecting and I was still bored.
Ummmm yeah, so that just happened. I feel like my eardrums were violently assaulted by crap and will never be the same again. Sucks so bad. No wonder everybody else hates it too.
God god awful
this is one of the worst things i've ever listened to in my life
I just think it's complete nonsense. NONSENSE NONSENSE NONSENSE.
idk this shit wasn't even on spotify lmao
traumatising deja vu
Literally just noise
Chaotic speed jazz. I dislike.
It was not music. The only cool thing is the album title.
Utter garbage. Sounds like a middle school band warming up. Nobody is listening to anyone else, they're just trying to make the loudest noise. That's not music. It's angering. Someone needs to confiscate Zorn and Berne's saxophones. Those poor instruments are being abused and need to be saved. I had to break this album up across three days just to get through it because I could only handle about 15 minutes of the chaotic noise before I had to take a break. I hate this. I hate every minute of it. I hate that it's on this list and I hate that I had to give it my time.
The scorching hot tomato from my toasted sandwich burnt my mouth whilst listening to this. I don't know which experience I enjoyed more. I don't mind the whole wall of noise thing, within the context of a song. But not for 40 relentless minutes. I know people say art needs to be challenging at times, but you wouldn't go to a restaurant because it had a challenging menu. You go because the mojitos are nice.
Can't listen 1
This album is the soundtrack to a panic attack. It's as if a bunch of incredibly talented jazzbos got together and all played their instruments as loud and fast as possible without any regard for what anybody else was playing. Everyone is good at what they do, but doing it together is just an assault on the ears and it makes me very anxious. I could barely get through this one.
Jesus christ no, why
I got through about half..I just couldn’t. Thrash drums and screaming sax in a way I can’t follow or ‘get’
Even this was a bit out there for me. I’d have preferred just an Ornette Coleman album.
Preferred the game.
I just didn’t get it.
As much as I want to be hip enough to do so I cannot handle noisy jazz
That was certainly something
When art is so confusing only a few people enjoy it then it’s hard to consider it special. You shouldn’t have to be a jazz or music scholar to understand what is going on here but it seems that way. The free jazz composition of playing impromptu may work with one person playing at a time but when multiple people with the same instrument do it then it sounds like this chaotic mess that it is. Call it what you want but enjoyable is not one of those words. 1.7/10
Yeah I hate John Zorn
Avant-garde Jazz that was not my sound at all.
Azz: sassofono e batteria per 41 minuti è troppo. È troppo anche per 5 minuti.
Jazzy noise
Not a fan at all.
Jazz caótico. No se distingue del ruido sin más. Un 1.
This was awful. It sounded like a group of people who have never played instruments before went into a room and tried them out. There is no reason for this to be on this list. If I could give a lower rating, I would.
0/5 They say that "Those who can do, and those who can't, teach." This guy should have been a teacher. It was such auto-musical-erotic-ego-stroking-bullshit. Even Spotify wouldn't host it, and they have every Pitbull single!!!! 🤣
Jesus fucking Christ what a pile of runny horse shit. No wonder it isn't on Spotify: IT'S NOT MUSIC!!!
Ikke tilgængeligt
Nope
Not on spotify
I want to give this less than one star. Ouch.
Just pure chaos idk who sits down and listens to this I'm sure its technically impressive but damn its genuinely headache inducingly unlistenable.
oof not for me
Que coño es esto Turbio y raro,el disco no se puede escuchar,pero he buscado cosas de este señor y es mu raro todo. La resaca no ayuda (PSP)
Not in Spotify
John Zorn is a criminal for this, a massive musical terrorist unchained
This opens with an absolute cacophony of noise. And it really doesn't get better... but you do get better at listening to it.
CHAOOOOOOOOOOS, not in a good way
Possibly the worst one I’ve listened/been subjected to so far
Some people said listen to the end and you would be surprised. I was. It is surprising this ever got released, ever got onto this site and I ever had to listen to it. Not least until the end. For the UK people amongst us, this is the joke band from Jazz Club on the Fast Show.
Not supported on spotify
Avant-garde experimental jazzy is never good.
Andy told me not to listen to this and I trust him
Buckle up you chuckle fucks we are headed down to the fifth layer of hell as we experience anger in music form. Normally I like jazz but not in the context of being held captive in the sunny resort town of Guantanamo Bay in the off season. I can only imagine the sort of people who would intentionally subject themselves to this with enjoyment would own an assortment of gimp masks and the number one item on their to-do list is a bit of dick and ball torture.
Nothing against Jazz, but this is just Drums and Sax on speed. Utterly horrible. 1/5
Would love to hear the author's justification for this one.
No thank you. Album cover fucks though.
This is not what I had planned for the weekend.
It's strange to hear Napalm Death and grindcore in general being cited as an influence and inspiration for a jazz artist tribute album. It's also interesting that the folks at 1001 did not choose any Ornette Coleman albums for their list, despite his winning the Pulitzer prize for music. So I took a listen to some of the original Coleman tracks that John Zorn covered. They are much more listenable, and needless to say, much longer.
To much for me
John Wick in a pig farm.
First half is nearly unlistenable. Second half is a bit better, especially \"Feet Music\". Not my style at all.
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Abrasive
1. Where are the jazz police when you need them?
Aaaarghhh! Kill me now!
Dit is een van de ergste dingen die ik in tijden heb gehoord. Dit is muziek om door in een gekkenhuis te belanden. Ik kan werkelijk niet geloven dat iemand dit als beste album indient.
what did i just hear
No
Pretentious. Artsy. Crap!!!!!!!
Couldn't make it past 14 mins.
yikes. if this is considered jazz then i am not a fan. this sound was worse than nails on a chalkboard. this is not music 🤨🤨🤨
what the fkng hell was definitely down for some cool jazz, not this absolute and utter mess. Would - or could - have been amusing if there was one 45 second passage like this to start the album, then it settled into something listenable, but it does not - it's a chaotic violent garbage plate of musicians who might know their jazz but they play it like they've been on coke for 48 hours and in between have been fed pixie stix. Or the creatures from the movie Gremlins but sped up to 16x the speed and insanity. What an exhausting disaster. I tortured myself and made it through. This is unquestionably in the small runoff for worst albums I've ever heard. 1/10 1 star.
Un asalto a los sentidos y es como si el jazz fuese pasado por una trituradora metálica
Not for me
Sounded like a jazz band falling down the stairs.
Heard it before?: No Enjoy it?: Unless it’s in the ambience to fill silence I just don’t care for jazz so no Favourite song: Didn’t have one
"The album itself approaches free jazz from the perspective of hardcore punk, particularly taking note of the contemporary innovations of thrashcore and grindcore." aka a bloody racket.
This was really uncomfortable to listen to. Feels like an "emperor has no clothes situation" so kudos to Zorn for getting away with it but it's a big "no thanks" from me. To make things worse I just listened to a Jimmy Smith album so my jazz expectations were too high for this noise. I am having a medium good time trying to imagine someone who actually likes this album and is trying to tell me how their favorite song goes. I can picture the panic in their eyes as they let out their third squeal in ten seconds and realize exactly how untenable their position is.
Doesn't exist on Apple Music
The incessant pitch of the alto sax took me back to a time filled with undiagnosed PND - I won't be listening again no matter how talented the musicians
Sounded like if a saxophone played the drill instructor in Full Metal Jacket
This gave me a stroke...
Ghastly.
Really not a fan. Couldn't make it all the way through.
1 star for not being on spotify also FUCK THIS LMAO I LOVE JAZZ BUT THIS IS AN ATROCITY
Can't find this easily on Amazon. I'm not going to spend all day looking. After reading about it, this seems like one of the author's pet albums. I don't care even at all. Would give it 0 if I could.
Not a fan.
I guess it deserves credit for conjuring images of the series I used to read in MAD Magazine. But it sounds like a big jazz band conducted by Animal from The Muppets with Animal playing every instrument. At the same time. Without any overdubbing.
The drums sound like bullets firing out of a sub machine gun and the trumpets sound like finely tuned squeaking dog toys. I couldn’t differentiate the first three tracks from each other I didn’t mind the fourth track until the last minute then the album continues to fuck up for the remaining half an hour. Maybe like two minutes of this sound would’ve worked at the end of some heavy jazz rock album to send the album off on a confusing bang but 41 minutes is painful. Jazz and punk are both at the opposite ends of the musical spectrum really there’s no similarity between the genres so it doesn’t work; but I appreciate the album and the sound it’s trying so hard to achieve not enough to save it from a 1/5 though which completely deserves to be in the notoriously bad bottom 10 albums.
This is the sound the world makes around me when I have an enormous hangover.
Noise ?
Yeah, this ain't it, chief.
kansikin jo kertoo, että saksofonimelujazzia. ei toimi mulle.
Tässä on yksi hyvä puoli: rummut eivät swengaa, minkä takia musiikki ei varsinaisesti ärsytä. Itseasiassa ne hakkaavat melkein kuin hardcoressa. Toisaalta torvet kuulostavat erehtymättömästi avant-garde jazzilta, mikä on huono homma. Yhden hitaamman, blues-pohjaisen biisin melkein ymmärsin, koska sen pieni koukkaus formalismiin teki tämän musiikin ylemmyydentuntoisesta ironiasta hetkellisesti lähestyttävämpää. Ansaitsisi ehkä plussan ykkösen perään.
First track - is nuts Second track - is also nuts
I hate jazz music
This album is TERRIBLE!!! I personally enjoy listening to most forms of jazz, but free jazz is where I draw the line. The only interesting thing about this album is the cover art.
This was a violent assault of unending frantic insane noise. 2 drummers and 2 saxophones competing to be heard over each other. Making it through this was a miracle, though there was a slight tuneful reprieve around 24 minutes.
Fuck off John Zorn. It's not big and it's not clever.
More noise than music for my taste.
Couldn’t listen to it as it is not on Spotify
Wow. It's a blend of free jazz and hardcore punk. It's very original, very creative, quite an interesting idea and not badly executed. And I absolutely hate it.
Can’t believe this made the top 1001 list. Top worse albums of all time maybe.
This is one of the lowest rated albums on the list and rightly so. Usually with an album like this I’d admire it’s uniqueness and experimentation but about 10 minutes in I just got a headache. Frantically playing the saxophone and drums is not enjoyable free jazz. Also with Otis blue I got a lot of shit wrong in my notes so: satisfaction was a cover of the stones, respect was another interesting track, and it’s just wonderful world not the Louis Armstrong song
This is wild... its not good, but its a hell of an experience
What the fuck is this garbage? Top 1001? No chance
Shite
lo-fi death jazz beats to study/relax to
Trumpet-jazz-noisecore bullshit
Brexit in audio form. Rating: 1/5 Playlist track: [None - not on Spotify (thank goodness)] Date listened: 03/05/22
Really annoying
This is the first album that I found legitimately difficult to get through. I don't know enough about jazz to know why this is important or good. Frankly it just sounded like discordant, unpleasant noise and I would not care if I never listened to any of these songs again. 1 star, solidly the worst album we have listened to, and it would take something truly horrific to unseat this. Zorn should have stuck to coming up with lemmas.
Sad to say this one was really, *really* not my cup of tea. I would like at some point to listen to and learn more about jazz, as I think it's a diverse genre with a lot of cool music from the very little I've been exposed to. BUT this album really threw me into the deep end and then proceeded to drown me in the deep end. Near the end sometimes there was a melody I could grasp onto, but it wasn't enough. Maybe if I knew a lot more about jazz I could appreciate this, but I right now I can't.
Very fast and chaotic start to an album. Tough to follow and a bit tiring to keep up with and listen. Difficult to enjoy listening to this.
No gusta
This is not at all my cup of tea, sounds like the stuff pretentious jazz-heads pretend to like because they think it'll make them cool. It's pretty much just unintelligible nose. And don't get me wrong, I love some good free jazz or industrial noise, but it's gotta have soul, and that's not coming through for me here. On the positive side, the recording is pretty cool - drums are super full and deep, and I like how there's a different sax squealing in each of the stereo channels. Overall though, the original arrangements from Coleman are much better, I think I'll stick with those.
Chciałbym serdecznie Panu Zornowi podziękować za podwaliny pod popularyzację hardcore'u. Jestem pewien, że świetnie to brzmiało zagrane na żywo, a artyści dali z siebie na scenie wszystko. Muzykę traktuję jako sztukę użytkową i tak też rozpatruje te albumy - ten się nie nadaje do słuchania w żadnej sytuacji, jaką byłbym w stanie wymyślić. Na płycie to po prostu nie brzmi. Earrape - Monsters Inc. ma bardzo podobny zamysł, a słucha się tego o wiele lepiej mimo tragicznej jakości. Dziękuję za ciekawostkę.
Przesłuchałem zarówno aranżacje pana Zorna jak i oryginalne utwory i nie ma porównania. Spy vs spy jest przesytem instrumentów, tempa i złożoności. > John, jak dużo chcesz perkusji? > Tak. Nie jest to zdecydowanie album do posłuchania przy kominku i lampce wina, a bardziej pasuje na scenie trash metalowej.