The Book of Heads
The Book of Heads | ||||
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Studio album by John Zorn/Marc Ribot | ||||
Released | Oct 1995 | |||
Recorded | 1995 | |||
Genre | Avant-garde | |||
Length | 56:00 | |||
Label | Tzadik TZ 7009 | |||
Producer | John Zorn | |||
John Zorn chronology | ||||
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Marc Ribot chronology | ||||
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The Book of Heads (1978), composed by John Zorn, is a set of 35 etudes for solo guitar.[1] It was recorded and released in 1995, and featured Marc Ribot. The pieces use multiple extended techniques.
Condensed from roughly 80 other compositions, the work was originally composed for Eugene Chadbourne. Zorn learned the extended techniques from Chadbourne, and used them to create a piece that would push Chadbourne's virtuosity to new levels. Zorn incorporated new techniques, such as rubbing balloons on the guitar strings until they pop, holding talking dolls up to the microphone, pulling the guitar strings out of the bridge notch, hitting the strings with pencils, and playing with rice. He also used classical guitar techniques, such as hitting the body of the guitar and multiple harmonics.
A second complete recording of all 35 etudes by German guitarist Christoph Funabashi was released on the Berlin-based label schraum in 2012.[2] Ten of the pieces are also featured on Marco Capelli’s YUN MU from 2002.[3] In 2015 another complete edition was released on Tzadik by New York guitarist James Moore who worked with Zorn on the pieces. This one also contains a DVD with a film by Stephen Taylor.[4] In recent years there has been growing interest in The Book of Heads with performances by adventurous guitarists throughout the world – notably Alessandra Novaga in Italy and Kobe Van Cauwenberghe in France.
Score
The score of The Book of Heads is published by Theatre of Musical Optics (BMI) and is available through Hips Road Edition.[5] It consists of a set of 35 small cards with graphical and standard notation including written instructions – which are in some cases very detailed and precise and in others quite associative which leaves a good deal of the realization up to the performer. A general note prefacing the score says: “These ‘heads’ are meant to be played as written and serve as the basis for improvisation. The improv may occur before, after, both before and after, in between two different heads or the same head twice, or not at all during your performance.”[6]
Reception
The Allmusic review by Satcia Proefrock awarded the Ribot album 3 stars stating "Ribot is obviously having fun on this release, and he has been praised by Zorn for the care he took in its execution. Such erratic work could be tossed off as mere noodling, but Ribot puts his heart into this performance and it shows".[7] Chain D.L.K. described Funabashi’s record as “a wonderfully schizophrenic music box” and stated that “Funabashi lays down a finely crafted and creatively virtuosic interpretation of one of Zorn's most demanding works.”[8]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [7] |
Chain D.L.K. | [8] |
Track listing
- All compositions by John Zorn
- "Etude 1" - 2:44
- "Etude 2" - 0:32
- "Etude 3" - 0:39
- "Etude 4" - 2:04
- "Etude 5" - 2:46
- "Etude 6" - 1:02
- "Etude 7" - 2:36
- "Etude 8" - 1:25
- "Etude 9" - 1:10
- "Etude 10" - 0:31
- "Etude 11" - 2:04
- "Etude 12" - 1:51
- "Etude 13" - 2:18
- "Etude 14" - 0:38
- "Etude 15" - 1:58
- "Etude 16" - 1:27
- "Etude 17" - 0:46
- "Etude 18" - 0:27
- "Etude 19" - 0:42
- "Etude 20" - 1:20
- "Etude 21" - 2:20
- "Etude 22" - 1:51
- "Etude 23" - 3:08
- "Etude 24" - 1:52
- "Etude 25" - 0:58
- "Etude 26" - 0:37
- "Etude 27" - 1:29
- "Etude 28" - 3:08
- "Etude 29" - 2:11
- "Etude 30" - 2:50
- "Etude 31" - 1:09
- "Etude 32" - 1:30
- "Etude 33" - 1:22
- "Etude 34" - 1:18
- "Etude 35" - 1:24
- Recorded at Shelley Palmer Studio in New York City on March 19, 1995
Personnel
- Jason Baker - engineer
- Ikue Mori - cover design
- David Newgarden - producer
- Allan Tucker - mastering
- John Zorn - collage, producer
References
- ^ Tzadik catalogue
- ^ schraum catalogue
- ^ Marco Capelli homepage Archived 2009-11-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Welcome to Tzadik".
- ^ Hips Road Edition
- ^ John Zorn: The Book of Heads. 1976-1978
- ^ a b Proefrock, S. Allmusic Review accessed July 25, 2011
- ^ a b Chain D.L.K. Review accessed October 1, 2013
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- Pool
- Hockey
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- Cobra
- John Zorn's Cobra: Live at the Knitting Factory
- John Zorn's Cobra: Tokyo Operations '94
- New Traditions in East Asian Bar Bands
- Xu Feng
- Cobra: John Zorn's Game Pieces Volume 2
Pieces
- Spillane
- The Bribe
- Elegy
- Kristallnacht
- Godard/Spillane
- Femina
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- Interzone
- Mount Analogue
- Voodoo
- The Big Gundown
- News for Lulu
- More News for Lulu
- Spy vs Spy
- Redbird
- The Book of Heads
- Duras: Duchamp
- Angelus Novus
- Aporias: Requia for Piano and Orchestra
- The String Quartets
- Cartoon S/M
- Madness, Love and Mysticism
- Songs from the Hermetic Theatre
- Chimeras
- Magick
- Mysterium
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- From Silence to Sorcery
- The Satyr's Play / Cerberus
- What Thou Wilt
- Lemma
- On the Torment of Saints, the Casting of Spells and the Evocation of Spirits
- The Alchemist
- Fragmentations, Prayers and Interjections
- In the Hall of Mirrors
- Myth and Mythopoeia
- 1986-1990
- Music for an Untitled Film by Walter Hill
- 1990–1995
- S&M + More
- Tears of Ecstasy
- 1996
- Cynical Hysterie Hour
- 1997
- Trembling Before G-d
- In the Mirror of Maya Deren
- Secret Lives
- Three Documentaries
- Invitation to a Suicide
- Hiding and Seeking
- Protocols of Zion
- Workingman's Death
- Notes on Marie Menken/Ray Bandar: A Life with Skulls
- The Treatment
- The Rain Horse
- Sholem Aleichem
- Belle de Nature/The New Rijksmuseum
- The Last Supper
- El General
- The Nobel Prizewinner
- City of Slaughter/Schmatta/Beyond the Infinite
- Bar Kokhba
- The Circle Maker
- 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 11
- Lucifer: Book of Angels Volume 10
String Trio
- The Circle Maker
- 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 1
- Azazel: Book of Angels Volume 2
- Haborym: Book of Angels Volume 16
- Music for Children
- Taboo & Exile
- The Gift
- Hemophiliac
- 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 6
Anniversary
Celebration
- Astaroth
- Azazel
- Malphas
- Orobas
- Balan
- Moloch
- Asmodeus
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- Lucifer
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- Ipos
- Baal
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- Caym
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- Tap
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- Moonchild: Songs Without Words
- Astronome
- Six Litanies for Heliogabalus
- The Crucible
- Ipsissimus
- Templars: In Sacred Blood
- The Lost Judgment
- The Dreamers
- O'o
- Ipos: Book of Angels Volume 14
- A Dreamers Christmas
- Pellucidar: A Dreamers Fantabula
- Alhambra Love Songs
- In Search of the Miraculous
- The Goddess – Music for the Ancient of Days
- Simulacrum
- The True Discoveries of Witches and Demons
- Inferno
- The Painted Bird
- 49 Acts Of Unspeakable Depravity In The Abominable Life And Times Of Gilles De Rais
- The Garden Of Earthly Delights
- Baphomet
- Chaos Magick
- Nostradamus: The Death of Satan
Inspirations
- IAO
- Enigmata
- Nova Express
- At the Gates of Paradise
- Nosferatu
- Rimbaud
- A Vision in Blakelight
- The Concealed
- Dreamachines
- Shir Hashirim
- Psychomagia
- On Leaves of Grass
- The Gnostic Preludes
- The Mysteries
- In Lambeth
- In Memory of Nikki Arane with Eugene Chadbourne
- Locus Solus
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- Deadly Weapons with Steve Beresford, Tonie Marshall & David Toop
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- The Art of Memory with Fred Frith
- Zohar with Yamantaka Eye
- Nani Nani with Yamantaka Eye
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- Euclid's Nightmare with Bobby Previte
- Weird Little Boy with Trey Spruance, Mike Patton, William Winant & Chris Cochrane
- Downtown Lullaby with Wayne Horvitz, Elliott Sharp and Bobby Previte
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- Buck Jam Tonic with Bill Laswell & Tatsuya Nakamura
- Naninani II with Yamantaka Eye
- The Stone: Issue One with Dave Douglas, Rob Burger, Bill Laswell, Mike Patton & Ben Perowsky
- The Stone: Issue Three with Lou Reed & Laurie Anderson
- The Art of Memory II with Fred Frith
- Late Works with Fred Frith
- @ with Thurston Moore
- Sonic Rivers with George E. Lewis & Wadada Leo Smith