The Book of Heads

The Book of Heads
Studio album by John Zorn/Marc Ribot
Released Oct 1995
Recorded 1995
Genre Avant-garde
Length 56:00
Label Tzadik
Producer John Zorn
John Zorn chronology
Nani Nani
(1995)		 The Book of Heads
(1995)		 Masada: Hei
(1995)

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 piece uses 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.

Contents

Reception

The Allmusic review by Satcia Proefrock awarded the 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".[2]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [2]

Track Listing

All compositions by John Zorn
  1. "Etude 1" - 2:44
  2. "Etude 2" - 0:32
  3. "Etude 3" - 0:39
  4. "Etude 4" - 2:04
  5. "Etude 5" - 2:46
  6. "Etude 6" - 1:02
  7. "Etude 7" - 2:36
  8. "Etude 8" - 1:25
  9. "Etude 9" - 1:10
  10. "Etude 10" - 0:31
  11. "Etude 11" - 2:04
  12. "Etude 12" - 1:51
  13. "Etude 13" - 2:18
  14. "Etude 14" - 0:38
  15. "Etude 15" - 1:58
  16. "Etude 16" - 1:27
  17. "Etude 17" - 0:46
  18. "Etude 18" - 0:27
  19. "Etude 19" - 0:42
  20. "Etude 20" - 1:20
  21. "Etude 21" - 2:20
  22. "Etude 22" - 1:51
  23. "Etude 23" - 3:08
  24. "Etude 24" - 1:52
  25. "Etude 25" - 0:58
  26. "Etude 26" - 0:37
  27. "Etude 27" - 1:29
  28. "Etude 28" - 3:08
  29. "Etude 29" - 2:11
  30. "Etude 30" - 2:50
  31. "Etude 31" - 1:09
  32. "Etude 32" - 1:30
  33. "Etude 33" - 1:22
  34. "Etude 34" - 1:18
  35. "Etude 35" - 1:24
  • Recorded at Shelley Palmer Studio in New York City on March 19, 1995

Personnel

References

  1. ^ Tzadik catalogue
  2. ^ a b Proefrock, S. Allmusic Review accessed July 25, 2011