Oh Perilous World

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Oh Perilous World
Oh Perilous World cover
Studio album by Rasputina
Released June 26, 2007
Genre Alternative Rock, Cello Rock
Label Filthy Bonnet
Professional reviews

Oh Perilous World, the sixth full length album from chamber-rock trio Rasputina, was performed by the band's creator cellist/lead singer Melora Creager and drummer Jonathon TeBeest with second chair Sarah Bowman contributing additional vocals. The album was released by the Filthy Bonnet Recording Co. with distribution through Rykodisc. [2]

Oh Perilous World is a concept album, and the songs are all connected with a very loose storyline, containing many steampunk elements. Essentially, the story focuses on Mary Todd Lincoln, who rules as the queen of Florida and is battling an uprising rebellion from the inhabitants of Pitcairn Island. The island inhabitants are led by Thursday October Christian, the son of Fletcher Christian, Bounty mutineer. Amongst the characters are Mary Shelley, Osama bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein. [3] Most of the songs are based on world events throughout history, and especially focusing on recent events of the past 6 years. The song "Choose Me For Champion" is largely translated from a speech by Osama Bin Laden, "Child Soldier Rebellion" addresses the issue of child soldier armies in Africa, "In Old Yellowcake" describes the conflict in Fallujah, and "We Stay Behind" is about families who were left in New Orleans following hurricane Katrina.

Following the release of her 2006 solo album, Perplexions, singer/lead cellist Melora Creager spent the time between albums scouring world events and adapting them into songs.

"I wrote the songs featured on Oh Perilous World over the last two years when I realized that current world events were more bizarre than anything I could scrounge up from the distant past," she says. "I obsessively read daily news on the Internet and copied words, phrases and whole stories that especially intrigued me and compiled a vast notebook of this material."[4]


Contents

[edit] Track listing

All tracks written by Melora Creager.

[edit] Disc 1

  1. "1816, The Year Without a Summer" - 4:23
  2. "Choose Me For Champion" - 2:36
  3. "Cage in a Cave" - 3:50
  4. "Incident in a Medical Clinic" - 3:52
  5. "Draconian Crackdown" - 4:02
  6. "Child Soldier Rebellion" - 3:49
  7. "Oh Bring Back the Egg Unbroken" - 3:55
  8. "Old Yellowcake Breaking News" - 0:35
  9. "In Old Yellowcake" - 4:05
  10. "We Stay Behind" - 3:19
  11. "A Retinue of Moons / The Infidel In Me" - 7:05
  12. "The Pruning" - 4:18

[edit] Disc 2 (bonus)

  1. "The Question of Time" - 2:39
  2. "Identity Tokens" - 4:54
  3. "The Humanized Mice" - 2:19
  4. "The Pruning (Pat O'Brian & Access Hollywood Mix)" - 4:17
  5. "Flood Corps" - 1:36
  6. "Incapable of Regret" - 2:02
  7. "Desert Vampire" - 1:36
  8. "The Contractors" - 2:09
  9. "Infidel Instrumental Demo" - 3:26

[edit] Song Meanings

 This section does not cite any references or sources. (September 2007)
Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.
  • "1816, The Year Without a Summer" is about during the Little Ice Age, the year 1816 had an unusual weather pattern (due to the volcano Mount Tambora exploding) and was known as the Year Without a Summer. The song also makes mention of author Mary Shelley writing her infamous novel Frankenstein, Freemasons and Benjamin Franklin.
  • "Choose Me For Champion" is about islanders' sufferings due to Western European invasions and mentions Thursday October Christian.
  • "Cage in a Cave" is about Thursday Christian's father, Fletcher Christian, who was an 18th century man who was part of the Mutiny on the Bounty in Tahiti.
  • "Incident in a Medical Clinic" is about the disease Schistosomiasis (also known as Snail-fever).
  • "Child Soldier Rebellion" makes mention of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda's usage of children as soldiers.
  • "Oh Bring Back the Egg Unbroken" is about the Tangata manu competition of the inhabitants from Easter Island.
  • "We Stay Behind" is about the people who stayed behind in New Orleans during the 2005 Hurricane Katrina. An article from the AP by Allen G. Breed exclaims, "I've never even had a nightmare or a beautiful dream about this," about seeing the warehouses burn. "People are just not themselves."[5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1] (2007). "All Music Guide - Review". Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
  2. ^ [2] (2007). "Rasputina's Official Web Site - History". Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
  3. ^ [3] (2007). "All Music Guide - Review". Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
  4. ^ CMJ News Story
  5. ^ Allen G. Breed. "New Orleans Evacuation Picking Up Steam", 2005-03-09. Retrieved on 2008-01-11. (English)