Naked City - 1993 - Radio

Naked City

1993

Radio

01. Asylum (1:56)

02. Sunset Surfer (3:23)

03. Party Girl (2:34)

04. The Outsider (2:27)

05. Triggerfingers (3:31)

06. Terkmani Teepee (3:59)

07. Sex Fiend (3:31)

08. Razorwire (5:31)

09. The Bitter and the Sweet (4:52)

10. Krazy Kat (2:03)

11. The Vault (4:44)

12. Metal Tov (2:07)

13. Poisonhead (1:09)

14. Bone Orchard (3:55)

15. I Die Screaming (2:29)

16. Pistol Whipping (0:57)

17. Skatekey (1:24)

18. Shock Corridor (1:08)

19. American Psycho (6:10)

- Bill Frisell / guitars

- Joey Baron / drums

- Yamatsuka Eye / vocals

- John Zorn / alto saxophone, vocals

- Fred Frith / bass

- Wayne Horvitz / keyboards

Upon listening to "Radio" it is much evident where bands like Mr. Bungle get their influences and chops from, and that comes as no surprise, as Zorn produced the aforementioned band's first major label debut. But, anyways, if you are a fan of free jazz and are not afraid to push on the meaning of "free", this album will suit you nicely, especially when in the mood for something challenging and abstract, and if you enjoy Naked City's albums in general, don't be afraid to check out John Zorn's solo works.

I highly enjoyed "Radio". Sounds to me as the most accessible and immediate album this band has.

"Radio" is yet another about-face in direction for Naked City. At once more accessible and yet more difficult than much of their previous work, "Radio" is a chance for John Zorn, after having honed a new form with "Heretic", to experiment with his musical loves, to reflect his influences (which he enumerates in the liner notes).

Each song is presented in a different style-- much of the material borders on commercially viable (well, by Zorn standards anyway). The amazing part of this album is that the musicians prove remarkably resilient-- everything is performed at a stunningly high level, regardless of style. There's a feeling of looseness and fun with these songs, unlike the self-titled debut, there's not as much jump cut feel to this-- each song holds its style for its length.

Some of my favorites on here are early on the record, almost a Morricone meets Brian Wilson filtered through Zorn-- "Sunset Surfers" and "Tekmani Teepee" are the clearest examples of this, and the opener is a great, wailing free-jazz with wailing sax and guitar piece. Probably most important to note is the presence of Bill Frisell on guitar-- this is really some of the best playing he's ever done-- track by track, any lead he plays is just brilliant (check "Asylum", "Triggerfingers", or "Terkmani Teepee" for good evidence). Its also nice to hear Wayne Horvitz using a clean piano sound for the first seven tracks rather than organ and synth sounds-- this helps with the more open feeling of the album and, I suspect as a result of this choice, a lot of this material swings pretty hard. Even the organ used on "Sex Fiend" gives it a on Big John Patton feel, not a haze that we had on earlier albums, ditto for the Tony Williams Lifetime inspired "Razorwire", which doesn't quite swing, but has that great fusiony feel.

The album starts changing a bit with "Krazy Kat", this one is actually in the jump cut style of the debut album, but it has an almost breezy feel to it, hard to describe really.

After this, the album moves into more of a metal direction-- its not really the sort of hardcore stuff that we saw on the debut, but rather more varied. One standout track ("Metaltov") is eastern European (proto-Masada?) feels layered with electric guitars, a lot of it is pretty noisy and chaotic, but again with a lot more space in the sound and longer idea development, plus concrete melodies. Its definitely a lot more intense and more difficult than the early part of the album but still very digestable. And we still get inspired work from Frisell.

Overall, its a great album-- it may be a better place to start with Naked City, but I don't think its one of their strongest records.