Grand Guignol (album)

Grand Guignol is the second full-length studio album released by John Zorn's band Naked City in 1992 on the Japanese Avant label. The album followed Torture Garden, which was a compilation of "hardcore miniatures" from Naked City and Grand Guignol. The album is notable for the inclusion of cover versions of pieces written by classical composers, the guest vocal of Bob Dorough, and also, like Torture Garden, a selection of "hardcore miniatures" (tracks 9–41) which are intense, fast-tempo, brief compositions, which feature the wailing of Zorn's alto sax, and the screams of Yamatsuka Eye.

Grand Guignol
Studio album by
Naked City
Released1992
Recorded1989 and 1992
GenreAvant-garde jazz, grindcore, avant-garde metal, chamber music
Length62:00
LabelAvant Avan 002
ProducerJohn Zorn
Naked City chronology
Torture Garden
(1990)		 Grand Guignol
(1992)		 Heretic
(1992)
John Zorn chronology
Buried Secrets
(1992)		 Grand Guignol
(1992)		 Elegy
(1992)

The album was also released as part of Naked City: The Complete Studio Recordings on Tzadik Records in 2005.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Ted Mills awarded the album 4 stars stating "Naked City's follow up to their self-titled album is a departure from the New York noir that they had perfected... A rewarding album."[1]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Track listing
All compositions and arrangements by John Zorn, except where noted.
  1. "Grand Guignol" – 17:41
  2. "La cathédrale engloutie" – 6:24 (Claude Debussy)
  3. "Three Preludes Op. 74: Douloureux, déchirant" – 1:17 (Alexander Scriabin)
  4. "Three Preludes Op. 74: Très lent, contemplatif" – 1:43 (Scriabin)
  5. "Three Preludes Op. 74: Allegro drammatico" – 0:49 (Scriabin)
  6. "Prophetiae Sibyllarum" – 1:46 (Orlande de Lassus)
  7. "The Cage" – 2:01 (Charles Ives)
  8. "Louange à l'éternité de Jésus" – 7:08 (Olivier Messiaen)
  9. "Blood Is Thin" – 1:02
  10. "Thrash Jazz Assassin" – 0:47
  11. "Dead Spot" – 0:33
  12. "Bonehead" – 0:54
  13. "Piledriver" – 0:36
  14. "Shangkuan Ling-Feng" – 1:16
  15. "Numbskull" – 0:31
  16. "Perfume of a Critic's Burning Flesh" – 0:26
  17. "Jazz Snob: Eat Shit" – 0:26
  18. "The Prestidigitator" – 0:46
  19. "No Reason to Believe" – 0:28
  20. "Hellraiser" – 0:41
  21. "Torture Garden" – 0:37
  22. "Slan" – 0:24
  23. "The Ways of Pain" – 0:33
  24. "The Noose" – 0:13
  25. "Sack of Shit" – 0:46
  26. "Blunt Instrument" – 0:56
  27. "Osaka Bondage" – 1:17
  28. "Shallow Grave" – 0:42
  29. "Kaoru" – 0:53
  30. "Dead Dread" – 0:48
  31. "Billy Liar" – 0:13
  32. "Victims of Torture" – 0:24
  33. "Speedfreaks" – 0:50
  34. "New Jersey Scum Swamp" – 0:44
  35. "S/M Sniper" – 0:17
  36. "Pigfucker" – 0:24
  37. "Cairo Chop Shop" – 0:25
  38. "Facelifter" – 0:57
  39. "Whiplash" – 0:22
  40. "The Blade" – 0:30
  41. "Gob of Spit" – 0:21

Personnel

Notes
  1. Mills, T. Allmusic Review accessed July 22, 2011
  • The album is titled after the infamous Grand Guignol theater in Paris, which was open from 1897 to 1962, where performances centered around extreme violence.
  • Grand Guignol was remastered and re-released in 2005 as part of the Tzadik box set - Naked City: The Complete Studio Recordings Box Set. The box set contains the bonus track "Grand Guignol (Version Vocale)", featuring Mike Patton and alters the original track sequencing.
  • Two of the tracks ("Bonehead" and "Hellraiser") were featured in the soundtrack to Michael Haneke's 1997 film Funny Games, and in Haneke's 2008 remake of the film.
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