Grand Opening and Closing
| Grand Opening and Closing | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| 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 |
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| Length | 59:08 | |||
| Label | Seeland/Chaosophy (original) The End Records (re-release) |
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| Producer | Dan Rathbun & Sleepytime Gorilla Museum | |||
| Sleepytime Gorilla Museum chronology | ||||
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| 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]
[edit] 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 | ||||
[edit] 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
[edit] 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.
