Mr. Bungle's self titled debut album released in 1991 is a mind and genre bending masterpiece. Mr. Bungle is Faith No more vocalist Mike Patton's other band, where his creativity is allowed to run wild. While Faith No More had their adventurous and frightening moments, their material was more focused and targeted towards the mainstream. Mr. Bungle did not worry about the mainstream, they just did what they wanted to do, and this is where they truly shine.
Their self titled debut is my all time favorite Mr. Bungle disc. The music blazes through ska, funk, soul, jazz, metal, death metal, carnival music, psychedelia, and noise art, switching styles at the drop of a hat, often in the same song. The sense of melody and song writing is incredible and tightly focused. Mike Patton's vocal delivery is smooth, snotty, serene, frightening, humorous and impeccable. The musicianship is top notch, with a horn section that really adds a punch to the proceedings. Experimental jazz master and composer John Zorn's production is so full it is difficult to comprehend in one sitting. There are so many sounds on this album, that even after a couple of hundred listens, you still always hear something new. The lyrics are a bit of a challenge...surrealistic yet brash, loaded with an obsession with porn, juvenile humor, violence, alienation, and loneliness.
It is hard to name a favorite track. All of the songs bleed into each other with amusing, and disturbing transitions. "Mr. Bungle" is one of those discs that has to be listened to as a whole to fully appreciate. Here's "Stubb A Dub" and "Quote Unquote" . Highly recommended, easy to find, and cheap at Amazon (8.99 US ).
3 comments:
This is one of my favorite albums ever, but I'l be honest it freaked me out at first. The first time I heard it I was under the influence of a hallucinogen and man was it wild! Needless to say I bought the album the next day and it has never left my rotation since. bungle never really made another album as good sadly imo.
My favorite tracks would be Carnival, Girls of Porn (Ginger Lynn Allen who some may know as the fantasy girl from The devil's Rejects provided all the female voices.) and My Ass is On fire, but really there's not a bad one to be had.
I agree. Their strongest album, nothing else would be as good. My two personal faves are "Carnival" and "Girls of Porn" as well.
...and it definitely hits dead on under a hallucinogen.
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