V4 --the album

[ethan at magicnet.net]

In reference too...
>In my opinion, the only producer, with the suss, vitriol, and synoptic reach,
>several quanta beyond Don Was & Malcolm McLarnen, is Hal Wilner. Besides
>producing complations from the canons of such artists like Kurt Weil, Walt
>Disney, & Thelonius "The Loneliest Plunk" Monk, his work, MEDITATIONS ON A
>NIGHTMARE: the Music of Charles Mingus, makes him a strong contender for such
>a task. On MEDITATIONS, Wilner assembled a cast of writers, singers,
>musicians & composers which includes: Gunther Schuller (consultant), Don
>Alias, Leonard Cohen, Robbie Robertson, Elvis Costello, Henry Threadgill,
>William Burroughs, Henry Rollins, the Uptown Horns, Keith Richards, Diamanda
>Galas, Dr. John, Ray Davies, Vernon Reid, Charlie Watts, Chuckie D, Hubert
>Selby jr, among others. The engineering of this release is nothing short of a
>modern miracle in recording technology--multi-layered montages of sound,
>texture, rich in hue and timbre and utilizing a variety of instruments
>including didjeridoos, core gongs, marimba tubas, kazoos, slide whistles,
>cloud chamber bowls, whirley tubes, chromelodeon pump organ, BBC broadcasts,
>samples from all sorts of shit, harmonic canon resonantor boxes and other
>estoreric mediums to create this strange, bitchin' brew.... Anyway, that's my
>two penny riff on this subject... geo. scombulis

There are two problems with the suggestion of Hal Wilner.  First of all,
while his recordings are good, they are by no means experimental.  What
makes the soundscape of the Mingus album's soundscape so interesting is the
use of instruments created by American composer Harry Partch, and the
musicians who get to play with these instruments.  Wilner's contribution,
an interpretation of Mingus, I find faulty.  I like the album a lot, but
frankly, it has absolutely nothing to do with Charles Mingus or his music.
As for another suggestion of producer (and a producer can play a very large
role, or a very small role in an album, depending on the size of everyone's
ego), I think Tom Waits (although he's not officially a producer, but he
produces his own work) acomplishes what Wilner is trying to do, but I'm not
sure he would work well with Pynchon.  But I sure would love to hear the
final product of that project.
                                                Ethan Schofer