The truth doesn’t care what I think.
The Mars Volta’s newest CD, Frances The Mute, was released today. I picked it up during lunch for $7.99(!!!) at Manifest.
I have listened to it at least 3 times through so far and I have to fully agree with the guy who checked me out when he said “you have just purchased a masterpiece.” This CD is a freaking masterpiece with emphasis on both “freaking” and “masterpiece”.
The Mars Volta RAWK. They became my favorite new band (and my new favorite band) about 5 seconds into the second track of their previous CD, De-Loused in the Comatorium. That CD is still in heavy rotation over a year later, “heavy” meaning “more than is probably healthy”, especially considering the way it makes me want to leap onto tables and play airguitar. Their sound is somewhere between Zeppelin, Santana, The Fall, Rush, Yes, Minor Threat, and some drug or insanity-induced hallucination. In other words, miraculous, marvelous, and maddening. Frances pushes all that madness in every direction, they have definitely decided against playing it safe for this one. Not in content, not in delivery.
The back of the CD lists the following contents:
Vismund Cygnus
a) Sarcophagi
b) Umbilical Syllables
c) Facilis Descenus Averni
d) Con SafoThe Widow
L’Via L’Viaquez
Miranda That Ghost Just Isn’t Holy Anymore
a) Vade Mecum
b) Pour Another Icepick
c) Pisacis (Phra-Men-Ma)
d) Con SafoCassandra Geminni
a) Tarantism
b) Plant a Nail in the Navel Stream
c) Faminepule
d) Multiple Spouse Wounds
e) Sarcophagi
Note that lack of numerals. This is not a track listing, it is a song listing. The tracks are split in a damn annoying manner totally unrelated to the song listing. You should know this before you put the CD into your computer, otherwise you’ll probably end up ripping it with completely wrong song titles since the CD Databases used by iTunes and Windows Media Player have entirely wrong track listings. The CD was originally going to be a 5-track masterpiece (and still is, in many people’s minds) but 5 songs is considered an EP. That would mean their record label would be paying them for an EP, not a full-length CD and also that the album’s sales would not be tracked for Gold or Platinum sales status. Not sure if the latter matters but the former certainly would.
So, in order to make this 76 minute tour-de-force appear to be an LP in the record companies’ eyes, the band decided to slice the last track, Cassandra Geminni. Since Cassandra Geminni has 5 movements, they split it into 5 corresponding tracks, right? Wrong. They split it into 8 slices. Huh? Exactly. Anyway, this is the correct track listing, you’ll want to fix this before you copy the CD to your harddrive or portable player. If you use iTunes or other software that will let you rip Cassandra Geminni as 1 single track, you should go that route; that’s the way the CD was meant to be heard.
1.Cygnus… Vismund Cygnus
2.The Widow
3.L’Via L’Viaquez
4.Miranda, that ghost just isn’t holy Anymore
5.Cassandra Geminni I
6.Cassandra Geminni II
7.Cassandra Geminni III
8.Cassandra Geminni IV
9.Cassandra Geminni V
10.Cassandra Geminni VI
11.Cassandra Geminni VII
12.Cassandra Geminni VIII
Unlike most of the current bands I like, The Mars Volta is not a guilty pleasure. They are smart, they rock, they know how to play their instruments, they are hard, heavy, beautiful, soft, and more punk than anything ever labeled as “punk” by MTV. Frances The Mute is a CD that some people won’t like, some won’t get, and some won’t shut up about. I’m warning you now, I’m going to be in the last category.
Details regarding the “whats” and “whys” of the tracklisting came from THE outside source for The Mars Volta info: The Comatorium, much of it from this post.
This post at thus spake drake has a good review, a list of other links (including a link to the video for The Widow), and a Frances The Mute Rhapsody playlist for those of you who subscribe.
[UPDATE: The title song, “Frances the Mute”, is available as a single on CD in Australia and on vinyl in the US.]
after a whole lot of random searching on the ‘net to find the proper track listing for the twelve tracks on this album, i finally came across this! You saved me a lot of annoyance!!! thanks!
I read somewhere that the last 3 tracks are not part of Cassandra, but are instead the 3 movements of the song “Frances the Mute,” as listed under the CD on the inside of the case.
Ahhh, looking at HMV.com, they’ve got track listing that also makes some sense (possibly). Basically, they’ve only got Cygnus rolled into a single track, so “Miranda…” would still be broken into 4 pieces. Doing it that way results in 12 tracks as well.
http://www.hmv.com.au/product/rockpop.asp?sku=963966
The tracklisting I listed above is correct. I’m assuming you don’t have the CD. You should get it, it is a brilliant piece of work.
(Frances the Mute isn’t on this CD [though the lyrics are in the case, like you said] but I think it is going to be on a b-side or limited release disk.)
I’ve got the CD (well, I *did*…it mysteriously disappeared from my CD drive, and I live alone), but I was kinda clueless as to what should be what, since I didn’t know what the album was supposed to sound like in the first place. I do love the album a lot. It is one of the most ambitious albums I’ve ever heard, reminscent of Tool’s “Lateralus” but much more difficult to get a handle around.
I haven’t stopped listening to it since I told myself to get over not knowing tracks (really unimportant on an album like this what “song” is what). I really need to sample it with an altered mind for full effect, though
Thanks for the listing…. but I ask- Where does the title track, for which the lyrics are included on the sleeve underneath where the cd itself is placed? IE. Frances The Mute, a. in thirteen seconds, b. Nineteen Sank, While Six Would Swim, c. Five would grow and one was dead?
!
Sorry, I posted the above without reading the comments about the B-Side possibility!
!!
Indeed, a brilliant piece of art.
I’m wondering, though, if it would be possible to determine which tracks are which movements of Cassandra Geminni. The only one I can definitively name is that track 12 is “Cassandra Geminni: Sarcophagi”, because Sarcophagi is the little acoustic opening of the first track, and so it follows that it would be the acoustic ending of the last track. Other than that, there really is no definition I can find as to where the movements split, but maybe someone else could . . .
And yes, the Mars Volta are one of the most original, creative, and beautiful band not of the past five, ten, or fifteen years, but EVER.
ok.. hey there people.. as horshu has explained.. the tracks of the cd can be arranged differently.. which in the case of my cd.. is so.. and dont tell me i dont have the cd.. coz im staring at its wonderful black and red art now.. heh..
its a truley awesome piece of work..
thats all i have to say.. good luck with that..
oh.. could the track labelling differences have something to do with the country we live in.. eg.. hmv.com.au.. is an australian site and i am an aussie and im guessing horshu is as well??? hmmm *thinks*
yeah, I didn’t really think about the fact that the site had a different listing because of the fact that it was released in a different format in your country.
But I assumed he didn’t have the CD because he was tossing around rumors like saying that he read that the song “Frances the Mute” was on the CD, something you wouldn’t really consider if you had the CD.
The track “Frances the Mute,” which appears on the inside of the case, is not on the CD due to lack of space. They could have made a double CD, but they chose not to do that. It will probably be relased in the vynil version of the album, which will have to be a double LP with or without that song included.
“Frances the Mute” also appears as the B-side to the single “The Widow.” It’s about 14 minutes long, and it’s not a bad song. Just look around for it; it’s not too hard to find on a good download service.
i got this from http://www.hmv.com.au
seems like its the most accurate so far to me.. cos it has the track lengths and everything
[incorrect tracklisting removed - sirshannon
and as for the “Frances the Mute” song.. i have no idea
that tracklisting has track lengths, which you could have used to see that it is wrong. The lyrics for each song are inside the CD, you can easily see that what track on the CD is which song by seeing where they are singing the lyrics, and you could see that Cassandra Geminni starts on track 5 and is a total of 32:28 in length.
The tracklisting at www.hmv.au.com that you posted is wrong, so I removed it in order to avoid [more] confusion.
I found your track listing very helpful for this CD. Thank you.
If you have ever heard Tool’s song Lateralus you know it’s full of time changes. A hobby of mine is to understand exactly what bands are doing as far as time and rhythm goes. I could figure out Lateralus on my own and can play through it on bass, but The Mars Volta has got me baffled with the beginning of Cassandra Geminni. Brilliant, crazy stuff.
Great tracklisting advice… I’ll however ask the same question as Robert… for Cassandra Geminni, apart from the first of the tracks being Tarantism and the last being Sarcophegi (again), how do you match the tracks with the movements? My guesswork so far is:
Track 5 - Tarantism
Track 6 - Tarantism II
Track 7 - Plant A Nail In The Navel Stream
Track 8 - Plant A Nail In The Navel Stream 2
Track 9 - Faminepulse
Track 10 - Multiple Spouse Wounds
Track 11 - Multiple Soupse Wounds 2
Track 12 - Sarcophegi
But I’m only basing this on loose judgement and any “changes” as such in the mood of the music, so I could be completely wrong.
Anyone help?
I think what’s been said so far’s pretty good - the last track is definitely Sarcophagi. Here’s a link to one from Chaos.com that looks completely wrong, but there you go.
http://chaos.com/?action=view&id=711028
Thank you so much for putting up the right tracklistings! I was rather confused to say the least. Windows helpfully decided to put the songs in the wrong order too so…that was fun… Amazing album though.
i’m sticking to natalie nimmo’s tracklisting couse it’s the one that fits best for me and the one in my mp3 player XD
it’s the most accurate i think. the band should’ve said something about this… it was so confusing
I haven’t really listened to it to try to figure out how those last tracks are split up because my mp3 player doesn’t do gapless playback so the 2 seconds between each of the last sections was too annoying for me to stand, so I stitched them together and just have a 5-track version of it now.
I’m sure Track 12 - Sarcophegi is correct, though.
how did you stitched em up? did it turned out good? with what program?
I used a program that records and played tracks 5-12 to make one long track.
The sound quality is fine, the file size is a little too large, but it’s better than those 2-second gaps.
The program is called Total Recorder. Not sure where I got it, it is several years old. I think it was the first piece of software I ever paid for.
oops… did I say that out loud?
I used Easy CD-DA Extractor from http://poikosoft.com/
It has an option to collectively select multiple tracks and to output them to a single file (such as an mp3). Look at their top screenshot (as of today) and you’ll see the checkmark box on the bottom-right.
So basically,
Extract Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4
Extract Track 5 as a “Single File Output”
Adjust ID3 of Track 5
Update M3U playlist file (if you use these)
Done. Worth the extra 2 minutes of work.
I fixed Itunes so there is now a track listing on it of the last songs as a single track blended together to make I-VIII of Cassandra Gemenni and then i fixed windows media player to do the same thing but it isnt all blended into one. Hopefully they’ll take my changes and implement them.
yeah, brilliant, brilliant cd. i have it on super - heavy rotation, and whenever im not listening to it in real life (which is rare), i have it spinning in my head. sometimes i freak ppl out when i burst out into singing or a guitar solo while theres no actual music playing anywhere nearby.
i figured out the track arrangement myself, via the lyric book, i just wish that media players could get their listings right as well.
Fucking brilliant, best thing i’ve ever heard
the title track, is actually part of the album. that is why the lyrics are in the case. but because the complete album is about 90 minutes or so, which cant fit on a cd, they had to have the title track seperate. they originally wanted to make it a 2 disc set, but universal wouldnt allow it. so they made it into its own ep.
as for the chapters within the song, they arent supposed to be associated with tracks or moods within the song. which is why, (without trying to cause too much confusion) they didnt make cygnus into 4 tracks, widow 1 track, l’via 1 track, miranda 4 tracks and cassandra geminni 5 tracks, because then people would automatically think that track two is ‘cygnus vismund cygnus - umbilical syllables’
if u happen to download the demos, u will find that cassandra is 1 track, and happens to be approx 32 minutes.
u may also find that if u download ‘the widow’ off limewire or any other similar program, it may be the first track of cassandra geminni. which is why you should just purchase the cd.
The Mars Volta are the best band in quazi-mainstream (because they have had popular singles and are not still in the local band scene) rock. As a drummer I adore this band. Jon Theodore is my favourite drummer, and whenever i get into argruments over who is the better drummer, Theodore or Travis Barker, with the musically out-of-tune people, I always support theodore with every breath I have. When i have this music blaring in my room, beating the shit out of my drums in proper mars voltic (fast fusion) style, i sometimes even come to a marvel of my own drumming. Mars volta does that. You can take their music at so many levels. Their guitar is amazing (all guitars) and the lyrics are comparable, as I have seen from some formal reviews, of William S. Burroughs, who if you have ever read or seen Naked Lunch, is personally a great compliment to Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-lopez. Whenever I’m lisening to The Mars Volta, whether it be in my sleep, late at night, or in the middle of the afternoon, i always get this feeling of deafening disillusionment, which is commonly felt when i am intoxicated. For music to do that is amazing. It is also amazing that whenever i find myself bored, i can just think about songs in this album, aswell as de-loused in the Comatorium, which is also a very amazing album, and become completely entertained. People around me get annoyed because, without realizing it, I will sometimes go crazy tapping to drum beats of their songs in the most obscure situations. I also think that Scabdates should be commended, because of some of the new tracks that are found on that. If you love Mars Volta, download or buy Cicatriz (scabdates) or Cicatriz ESP (de-loused in the Comatorium) because it is the most amazing song ihave ever heared with one of the most amazing drum beats i have ever heared. Unlike most of the beats in Frances the Mute, which are extremely amazing in their respect to fusion, Cicatriz actually keeps the same rythm and follows, to an extent, the traditional verse-chorus rubric that so many artists use when making music, except that it is Mars Volta so it’s like it is to the EXTREME. Anywho’s, the Mars Volta is Amazing, Jon Theodore is Amazing, and Frances the Mute is Amazing.