There's another question as well. What are we going to do about this round? Should we continue with the large list of albums that we have now or drop the ones that don't qualify for this criteria and say "suggest them next round"? Part of what brought this on was the size of this round.
Video Game Census. Please contribute.This album was much better on my second listen. Probably because I skipped most of "The Torture Never Stops" this time. Much as I groused about Zappa's vocal stylings, it was the woman's moans and screams that made the song unlistenable for me.
The rest of the album was okay, but not something I feel any desire to ever listen to again. The vocal songs were filler as far as I'm concerned, and the guitar-focused songs are good but not enough to redeem the album. When I want to hear virtuoso guitar work, there's other albums I can listen to, without annoying vocals. I'm told that Frank Zappa even released some of those, himself. I ought to check them out.
edited 19th Feb '11 6:33:42 PM by MetaFour
No need to feel bad for making fun of him; by all accounts he much preferred having the low voice.
Words cast into the uncaring void of the internet.It would interesting to do a survey of fake female orgasms in pop music. 'Cause, I mean, it actually can work sometimes.
I was thinking that, too. Random Number Generator says "5", which is Suffocation - Effigy for the Forgotten. This was suggested by Lordnecron. I don't have links yet, so we'll have to wait a bit. In the meantime, keep discussing this window. I want to hear multiple sides.
Video Game Census. Please contribute.I'm sorry I missed out on this album, guys.
But a brief note, from now on, my opinions on the album are going to be posted to the new Stuff From Spain's Attic (see sig) rather than here.
I'll probably just drop by to post a link to here when the entries are done.
I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....Just listened to the album.
I'm pretty sure I just plain don't get extreme metal. Like, there are definitely things going on here—changes in rhythm, different chord progressions, etc—but I can't really figure out what. It seemed to me like each of these songs had 15 different parts, all of which were the same growling and hammering.
So I'm not really going to be able to give this a real review. Maybe I'll learn to appreciate this kind of music someday, but right now it flies completely over my head.
Words cast into the uncaring void of the internet.

Zoot Allures - I quite liked it, but for every good thing I found about the album, something else put me off it.. The Torture Never Stops definitely has a bit of a Nick Cave vibe to it, as somebody said, so I could appreciate that. But it just went on a bit too long for my liking. I liked the rhythmic messing-about going on at the end of Friendly Little Finger, but the rest of the song wasn't particularly memorable. Disco Boy was pretty catchy, but not really a style that I liked. Wonderful Wino had a great dirty riff behind it, but the lyrics and vocal style very much put me off it. Black Napkins had some interesting stuff going on, but it just sounded like one of those brief Mars Volta guitar freakouts stretched over an entire track. Wind Up Workin' in a Gas Station was an enjoyable little song, but definitely could've done without the chipmunk vocals...
It seemed like every good song on the album had something or other which was slightly off about it. The less memorable songs didn't have anything wrong with them, but there just didn't seem to be enough to them. The only song I liked and wouldn't really have a complaint about was the title track. That was definitely nice, and quite a welcome change of pace from most of the rest of the album. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable listen, but definitely not the best I've heard from Zappa.