Scabdates

Infobox Album | Name = Scabdates
Type = live
Artist = The Mars Volta


Released = November 8, 2005
Recorded = May 2004-May 2005, Various live performances
Genre = Progressive rock
Length = 72:54
Label = Gold Standard Laboratories
Universal Records
Strummer
Producer = Omar Rodríguez-López
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:p908b5f4csqk link]
*TheMusicZine Rating|5|5 [http://www.themusiczine.com/album.php?id=10 link]
*IGN Rating|2.5|5 [http://music.ign.com/articles/681/681286p1.html link]
*Kerrang! Rating|4|5
*Pitchfork Media (3.5/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/19727-scab-dates link]
*Punknews.org Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.punknews.org/review/4965 link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|3|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/37340/albums/album/8684575 link]
*Transform Online [http://www.transformonline.com/music/reviews/003552.php link]
Last album = "Frances the Mute"
(2005)
This album = "Scabdates"
(2005)
Next album = "Amputechture"
(2006)|

"Scabdates" is the second official live recording from the band The Mars Volta. It was released on November 8, 2005 and features music recorded between May 2004 and May 2005 during the 2004-2005 tour in support of "Frances the Mute".

Overview

"Scabdates" is peculiar as only three of the band's songs are represented, constituting mostly of expansions on musical themes which appear elsewhere in their work, or entirely new segments altogether. For example, the lengthy exposition on "Cicatriz," when combined with its introduction "Haruspex", comprises 48 minutes of the disc, incorporating into its lengthy jam themes which would later be used in "Cassandra Gemini" (the performance excerpted here was recorded on May 12, 2004, almost a year before "Frances the Mute" was released). Oddly enough, the "Scabdates" version of "Concertina" is shorter than its studio counterpart released on the "Tremulant EP". The album ends with Cedric thanking the audience by telling them to "go home and take a bath."

Portions of the album include overdubbing and tape effects that were not part of the original live recordings. "Abrasions Mount the Timpani" features field recordings of mewling babies and airliner announcements that Omar recorded on the road, while "Cicatriz" incorporates an eight-minute psychedelic sound collage of other Mars Volta live performances (notably, performances of "Eunuch Provocateur" and "Cassandra Gemini"), alongside field recordings of the band and others talking and laughing. The album, like many live albums before it, was also mixed to sound as if it came from one performance.

Reception

The Mars Volta have freely encouraged the trading of bootlegged live performances, but "Scabdates" was lauded by many fans for its superior sound quality and for being the first official recording that captured the Volta's lengthy experimental workouts during live performances. Some critics were not plussed with the band's jam sessions, with IGN [http://music.ign.com/articles/681/681286p1.html describing the album as] "sonic meandering which some regard as genius and others find to be a futile exercise in pretentious instrumental masturbation."

Track listing

Like "Frances the Mute", portions of "Scabdates" were arbitrarily cut into separate sections for the CD pressing. "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt" was spread along three tracks, while "Cicatriz" was spread across five; the fifth section, "Part IV", begins with the sound collage mentioned above. On vinyl, "Cicatriz" was split along the third and fourth sides, with "Part IV" taking up the entirety of the latter side.

ource of Recordings

05/12/2004 - Wiltern Theatre - Los Angeles, CA
* Haruspex
* Cicatriz
* Cicatriz, Pt. I
* Cicatriz, Pt. II
* Cicatriz, Pt. III
* Cicatriz, Pt. IV

05/13/2004 - Wiltern Theatre - Los Angeles, CA
* Caviglia

05/05/2005 - Roseland Ballroom - New York City, NY
* Abrasions Mount the Timpani
* Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt

05/06/2005 - Roseland Ballroom - New York City, NY
* And Ghosted Pouts

Unknown
* Concertina (most likely from a 2005 show, as Adrián Terrazas-González (who began performing live with the band in 2005) can be heard playing saxophone)
* Gust of Mutts

Personnel

* Omar Rodríguez-López
* Cedric Bixler-Zavala
* Juan Alderete
* Jon Theodore
* Isaiah Ikey Owens
* Adrián Terrazas-González
* Paul Hinojos
* Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez

References