David Torn, Mick Karn, Terry Bozzio

David Torn, Mick Karn, Terry Bozzio - Polytown - 1994 - CMP Records

Guitarist David Torn, bassist Mick Karn, and drummer Terry Bozio play a total of over 20 instruments in this far-reaching musical experiment, released in 1994 on avant- fusion label CMP Records. Led by Torn's scattered almost-melodies, these ten tracks present a tribal jazz ambiance and near-constant guitar and bass noodling that fans of Torn and Karn's prior work will enjoy. Bozio's expressive percussion stylings are up to the drummer's world-class standard, and carry Polytown beyond the new age oblivion similar records inhabit. Despite the virtuoso, heavily-nuanced performances, however, this challenging collection still might not posses the cohesion necessary to interest listeners unfamiliar with so much obsessive compulsive instrumentalism. There is an uncredited nugget of prose inside the CD case that says it best; "Rivers of warm sand like snakes coil around Polytown often flooding into larger reptiles." Impossibly meaningless, but odd and beautiful — that's the dichotomy of Polytown. © Vincent Jeffries © 2010 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hifixqwhld0e

Inventive Zappaesque New Age jazz funk fusion. Brilliant percussion reminiscent of the late Pierre Moerlen at his most creative. Mick Karn's bass playing is also brilliant. If you like Canterbury Rock bands like Matching Mole, Henry Cow, and Gong, or progressive rock / jazz rock bands like Can, or Slapp Happy you may like this album. If you don't, skip it! Listen to David Torns brilliant "Prezens" album, Terry Bozzio and Billy Sheehan's "Nine Short Films" album and Mick Karn's "Titles" album

TRACKS

1 Honey Sweating 5:45
2 Palms For Lester 6:43
3 Open Letter To The Heart Of Diaphora 4:38
4 Bandaged By Dreams 6:53
5 Warrior Horsemen Of The Spirit Thundering Over Hills Of Doubt To A Place Of Hope 5:01
6 Snail Hair Dune 9:31
7 This Is The Abduction Scene 3:09
8 Red Sleep 4:27
9 Res Majuko 3:42
10 City Of The Dead 3:30

All music composed by David Torn, Mick Karn, & Terry Bozzio

MUSICIANS

David Torn - Guitar, Loops, Programmed By [Processing], Organ [Hammond B-3], Harmonica, Koto [Kake Koto], Piano [Tiny], Voice
Mick Karn - Bass [Fretless], Clarinet [Bass], Other [Dida], Voice [Greek]
Terry Bozzio - Drums, Percussion, Bodhrán, Drums [Dumbek], Noises [Throaty French Horn Imitation], Piano [12 Notes On The Piano]

ABOUT DAVID TORN

New York-based composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, singer, writer, and self-described "texturalist/guitarist" David Torn lent his distinctive style to numerous films and documentaries and collaborations. He worked with composers Howard Shore, Carter Burwell, and Ryuichi Sakamoto, as well as appeared on recordings from k.d. lang, David Bowie, Jim Carroll, Laurie Anderson, and a host of others. His solo works include Best Laid Plans (1984), Cloud About Mercury (1986), Door X (1990), Tripping Over God (1995), What Means Solid, Traveller? (1996), Splattercell's Oah (2000), the soundtrack to the Heath Ledger thriller The Order (2003), and the ECM release Prezens (2007). © James Christopher Monger © 2010 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:difpxqy5ldde

ABOUT MICK KARN

Born July 24, 1958, Mick Karn first studied wood and wind instruments such as bassoon and clarinet. However, it is his highly distinctive fretless bass voice for which he is most renowned, an accolade placing him next to Jaco Pastorius. According to Karn, bass went unnoticed and his mission was to get it noticed. Even on early Japan recordings, his wiggly bass can be heard. By their swan song, Tin Drum in 1981, he was dubbed one of the best bass players in the world. He'd already supplied bass and sax work to Gary Numan's Dance album and was the first Japan member with a solo record — Titles. In 1983, Japan's live album, Oil on Canvas, brought his playing to new ears: jazz legend Jan Garberek. The following year brought an unlikely collaboration with Peter Murphy of Bauhaus. The Waking Hour became Dalis Car's only album and soon Karn was again a solo agent teaming up with close friend Steve Jansen to produce Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters. Session work with Kate Bush and Joan Armatrading bridged Karn's solo efforts, which were few and far between, often odd in title and texture (Beard in the Letter Box, Plaster the Magic Tongue). The early '90s saw a more prolific Karn who formed the label Medium with Jansen and Richard Barbieri. All three joined guitarist David Torn to produce his best efforts: Bestial Cluster (1993) and The Tooth Mother in 1995. Between these came an experimental project, Polytown, again with Torn and drummer Terry Bozzio. Its muscular and at times funky prog rock is not for the feint hearted. Karn found time to spend on his sculpture work and a San Francisco sabbatical eventually bore the album Each Eye a Path. © Kelvin Hayes © 2010 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0iftxqe5ldse~T1

ABOUT TERRY BOZZIO

Terry Bozzio first got his start as the drummer for Frank Zappa's backing band during the '70s, but would go on to become one of rock's most versatile session men, and form one of new wave's most visually exciting outfits, Missing Persons, along with then-wife Dale Bozzio. Born Terry John Bozzio on December 27, 1950 in San Francisco, CA, Bozzio began playing on makeshift drums at an early age, before taking formal lessons at the age of 13 (inspired by the Beatles' infamous appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show). After playing in various local garage bands during the mid- to late '60s, Bozzio majored in music while attending Sir Francis Drake High School and College of Marin as he studied timpani and various forms of percussion. By the early '70s, Bozzio had landed gigs with such rock musicals as Godspell and Walking in My Time, in addition to playing in several jazz/fusion outfits and appearing on his first record — backing trumpeter Luis Gasca on his 1972 release, Born to Love You. 1975 saw Bozzio catch his big career break, when he auditioned for and got a spot drumming for Frank Zappa. Bozzio's tenure with Zappa lasted only three years, but the drummer was featured on ten albums and countless tours (Bozzio also appeared in the Zappa concert movie, Baby Snakes). Bozzio also served as the inspiration for several Zappa compositions during their time together, including "The Black Page" and "Punky's Whips." After leaving Zappa in 1978, Bozzio nearly landed spots with a pair of potentially interesting outfits — a jazz supergroup called Group 87 (consisting of bassist Patrick O'Hearn and keyboardist Mark Isham, among others) and already-established hard rockers Thin Lizzy. Unfortunately, both wound up not working out for Bozzio (although he would play on Group 87's self-titled debut recording a couple of years later). But Bozzio didn't have to wait long to join his next project, as he got the thumbs up to join prog rockers U.K. in 1979. The same year, he played on a pair of U.K. albums, (Danger Money and Night After Night), plus their subsequent supporting tours. Up next for Bozzio was a new wave project with his wife Dale and former Frank Zappa guitarist Warren Cuccurullo called Missing Persons. The group's space age sound and look turned heads right off the bat, as they enjoyed a pair of hit singles/videos ("Words" and "Destination Unknown"), as well as a gold-certified debut album, 1982's Spring Session M. But the band (and Bozzio's marriage) didn't last much longer, as Missing Persons issued only two more albums before splitting up — 1984's Rhyme & Reason and 1986's Color in Your Life. Subsequently, Bozzio has focused primarily on either recording or touring with a wide variety of acclaimed artists, including Robbie Robertson, Gary Wright, Don Dokken, Paul Hyde, Herbie Hancock, Dweezil Zappa, Richard Marx, Jeff Beck, Duran Duran, Explorer's Club, Billy Sheehan, Steve Vai, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, among others. Bozzio also began performing clinics for fellow drummers across the country, in addition to issuing an instructional home video in 1992, Solo Drums. The late '90s saw the drummer issue albums as part of the all-star trio Bozzio Levins Stevens (Black Light Syndrome and Situation Dangerous), plus collaborative albums with Chad Wackerman (Solos & Duets, Vols. I & II), and solo releases (Drawing the Circle, Chamber Works, Solo Drum Music, Vols. I & II). 2001 saw Terry rejoin Missing Persons for a series of reunion concerts. © Greg Prato © 2010 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:fcfoxqu5ldse~T1