Mirror Man (David Thomas album)

Mirror Man (David Thomas album)
Mirror Man
Studio album by David Thomas and the Pale Orchestra
Released June 1999
Genre Rock
Label Thirsty Ear
Producer David Thomas
David Thomas and the Pale Orchestra chronology
Monster
(1997)
Mirror Man
(1999)
Bay City
(2009) - download only from Hearpen Records
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4.5/5 stars[1]
Greil Marcus; Salon.com (?)[2]
Q 2/5 stars[3]

Mirror Man is a the title of a "rogue opera" conceived and orchestrated by David Thomas, as well as an album recording of the first act of that piece. The piece draws many lyrical and imagistic threads from Thomas' entire recorded legacy, as well as relying to a large degree on improvisation and the personalities of its participants. The cast is typically large and diverse, featuring actors, poets and singers supported by a core musical group (based around Thomas' regular collaborators the Two Pale Boys). Set in an abstract highway landscape among anonymous all-night coffee shops, bus stops, roadside detritus, apocryphal road signs, and flickering streetlights, Mirror Man is (according to Thomas) "about places that don't exist and a collection of stories about the people who live there -- abandoned by the future, forbidden access to the past, and set adrift in a mirage-like Now". [1]

Contents

Theatrical production

The work was initially commissioned by The South Bank, London, and premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on April 3 1998 as part of the four day festival David Thomas: Disastodrome!. Since that time it has been restaged at various festivals, and briefly toured the UK in 2001. The most recent staging was at a second Disastodrome! Festival in Los Angeles, in February 2003. Act 1 is entitled "Jack and the General", referring respectively to Jack Kerouac, and General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and supposes a poetic correlation of the two men via their relationship to the US Interstate Highway System. Act 2 is "Surf's Up in Bay City". Bay City is "where the journey ends, where the unstoppable Great Westward Urge meets the immovable Pacific Object and loses." [2]

Album

Mirror Man is performed in two acts. The album was recorded primarily live at the debut performance (with some fixes and alternate performances patched in), and comprises the first act ("Jack and the General"). The second act ("Surf's Up in Bay City"), which has undergone significant rewrites as the piece has evolved through different stagings, has not been released, though the lyrical and musical content of the most recent incarnation overlaps significantly with both the David Thomas and Two Pale Boys album Surf's Up!, and the David Thomas and Foreigners album Bay City. Due to the fluid and continuous nature of the performance, the album is tracked in a non-traditional manner. There are eleven track points spread across the fifteen distinct songs performed, each roughly, though not exactly, corresponding to the major transition points within the work.

Cast (aka The Pale Orchestra)

Version 1: (as appears on the album) Disastodrome, Queen Elizabeth Hall April 3, 1998

Version 3.5: Disastodrome, UCLA - February 24, 2003

  • David Thomas – singer, melodeon
  • Bob Holman – poet
  • Robert Kidney – singer
  • Syd Straw – singer
  • Van Dyke Parks – singer
  • Frank Black – singer
  • George Wendt – actor
  • Keith Moliné – guitar, electronics
  • Andy Diagram – trumpet, electronics
  • Jack Kidney – sax & harp
  • Georgia Hubley – drums, singer

References

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ Greil Marcus; Salon.com review
  3. ^ Davies, Paul. "Review: David Thomas - Mirror Man". Q (EMAP Metro Ltd) (July 1999): 125. 

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Monster (David Thomas album) — Monster Box set by David Thomas Released June 1997 Genre Rock Label Roug …   Wikipedia

  • Mirror Ball (Neil Young album) — Mirror Ball Studio album by Neil Young featuring Pearl Jam Released June 27, 1995 Recorded …   Wikipedia

  • David Thomas (musicien) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir David Thomas. David Thomas David Thomas, en concert avec P …   Wikipédia en Français

  • David Lynn Thomas — David Thomas (musicien) Pour les articles homonymes, voir David Thomas. David Thomas …   Wikipédia en Français

  • David Hemmings — Dans L Œil du malin (1966) Données clés …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story — Written by Claudia Salter Directed by Allan Moyle …   Wikipedia

  • David Hemmings — in Eye of the Devil (1967) Born 18 November 1941(19 …   Wikipedia

  • Bay City (album) — Infobox Album Name = Bay City Type = Album Artist = David Thomas and Foreigners Released = 2000 Genre = Rock Label = Thirsty Ear Producer = David Thomas Reviews = | Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg… …   Wikipedia

  • David Tennant — This article is about the Scottish actor. For the Cape Colony politician, see David Tennant (Cape politician). David Tennant David Tennant at Comic Con 2009. Born David John …   Wikipedia

  • Mirrorman — Mirror Man or Mirrorman can refer to: Mirror Man (Captain Beefheart album) Mirror Man (David Thomas album) Mirror Man (song), by The Human League Mirrorman (TV series), aired on Fuji TV in 1971 2 Kazuhide Uekusa, Japanese economist, nicknamed… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”