Grand Opening and Closing

Studio album by Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Released

October 30, 2001

Recorded

1999-2001 at Polymorph Recording, Oakland, California

Genre

Avant-rock/metal
Progressive rock/metal

Length

59:08

Label

Seeland/Chaosophy (original)
The End Records (re-release)

Producer

Dan Rathbun & Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum chronology

Grand Opening and Closing
2001

Of Natural History
2004

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[1]

Grand Opening and Closing is the debut album by Oakland, CA based Avant-rock/metal group Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. It was recorded at Polymorph Recording, Oakland, CA, and produced by (as well as recorded, mixed and mastered by) the band's bassist Dan Rathbun. Other members of the band helped co-produce the album alongside Rathbun.

The album was released on October 30, 2001 by Seeland Records in conjunction with Chaosophy Records. Since the band signed to The End Records in January 2006, this album has been re-released on September 5, 2006 with 3 previously unreleased tracks.^[2]

Concept-wise this album is different from its follower, Of Natural History, since it has no continuous underlying theme.

This is also the only SGM album to feature David Shamrock on the drums before he left the band. Frank Grau came therein, and he even features on this album, playing the drums on "The Stain".

Like with Of Natural History, some of the album's lyrics are inspired by different authors and poets. For example, the track "Sleep is Wrong" quotes a section of a poem by Dylan Thomas,^[3] while "Sleepytime (Spirit is a Bone)" is inspired by William T. Vollman's The Rainbow Stories and phrenology.^[4]

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Song	Length
1.	"Sleep Is Wrong"	Nils Frykdahl	Sleepytime Gorilla Museum	Nils Frykdahl	6:35
2.	"Ambugaton"	Hank Williams	David Shamrock		5:38
3.	"Ablutions"	Carla Kihlstedt	Carla Kihlstedt		6:05
4.	"1997 (Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's...)"	Nils Frykdahl	Sleepytime Gorilla Museum	Nils Frykdahl	4:48
5.	"The Miniature"		David Shamrock and Nancy Elliot		0:59
6.	"Powerless"	Nils Frykdahl	Sleepytime Gorilla Museum	Nils Frykdahl	9:30
7.	"The Stain"	Dan Rathbun	Dan Rathbun		6:46
8.	"Sleepytime (Spirit Is a Bone)"	Nils Frykdahl	Sleepytime Gorilla Museum	Nils Frykdahl	10:16
9.	"Sunflower"		David Shamrock		7:52

End Records re-release
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Song	Length
10.	"More Time"	Carla Kihlstedt	Carla Kihlstedt/SGM		2:48
11.	"Flinch"	Carla Kihlstedt	Carla Kihlstedt		4:46
12.	"Powerless (live 01/06/06)" (Recorded at Great American Music Hall, San Francisco.)	Nils Frykdahl	Sleepytime Gorilla Museum	Nils Frykdahl	9:42

Personnel

Carla Kihlstedt – Electric Violin, Percussion Guitar,^[5] Autoharp, Pump Organ, Voice
Dan Rathbun – Bass Guitar, Slide-piano Log, Pedal-action Wiggler, Thing, Autoharp, Voice
David Shamrock – Drums, Piano
Frank Grau – Drums on "The Stain"
Moe! Staiano – Percussion, Metal, Pressure-cap Marimba, Spring, Spring-nail Guitar, Popping Turtle, Food Containers, Tympani
Nils Frykdahl – 6 and 12 string guitars, Tibetan Bells, Autoharp, Voice

Notes

^ Prato, Greg. Grand Opening and Closing review allmusic.com. Retrieved on 2010-04-12.
^ http://www.theendrecords.com - SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM - Grand Opening And Closing!
^ "From a poem by Dylan Thomas, used by at least one mother to taunt sleep-resistant children" (Grand Opening and Closing, liner notes, p. 112, note 5).
^ "Hospital color-lines inspired in part by William T. Vollman's The Rainbow Stories" & "Spirit is a bone is the motto of the phrenologists, 18th century skull-readers." (Ibid., notes 6 & 7, respectively.)
^ If some of these instruments seem unusual, the reason is that SGM uses a lot of homemade instruments. See the main article about the band for more information.