A Lazarus Taxon

__notoc__Infobox Album
Name = A Lazarus Taxon
Type = box set
Artist = Tortoise


Released = August 21, 2006
Recorded = 1993-2005
Genre = instrumental rock, post-rock
Length = 69:05 (CD1)
73:17 (CD2)
37:07 (CD3)
179:29 (total)
Label = Thrill Jockey
Producer =
Reviews = * Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:6znyxdyb6olk link]
* Baltimore City Paper (favourable) [http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=10860 link]
* Drowned in Sound (5/10) [http://www.drownedinsound.com/release/view/7738 link]
* HARP (favourable) [http://harpmagazine.com/reviews/cd_reviews/detail.cfm?article_id=4701 link]
* Pitchfork (9.2/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/37797/Tortoise_A_Lazarus_Taxon link]
* The Stranger Rating|4|5 [http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=55928 link]
* Stylus (A) [http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/tortoise/a-lazarus-taxon.htm link]
* Time Out (4/6) [http://www.timeout.com/london/music/review/audio/403/tortoise_a_lazarus_taxon.html link]
* URB Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.urb.com/reviews/cd/index.php?M=all&L=T link]
Last album = "The Brave and the Bold" (2006)
This album = "A Lazarus Taxon" (2006)
Next album =

"A Lazarus Taxon" is the name of a box set by Chicago post-rock group Tortoise, released in 2006 on the Thrill Jockey label (see 2006 in music).

The set contains three CDs, one DVD and an accompanying 20-page booklet. The CDs contain 33 tracks of rare material from tour, compilation and non-American releases, the band's out of print 1995 album "Rhythms, Resolutions & Clusters", which compiled remixes by friends of the band including Steve Albini, Rick Brown, Jim O'Rourke and Brad Wood, and other previously unreleased material including a restored remix by the Minutemen's Mike Watt that was delivered too late for inclusion on "Rhythms..." and subsequently fell victim to a malfunctioning DAT machine. Tortoise bassist Bundy K Brown himself restored the tape, twelve years after it was recorded. [ [http://www.urb.com/reviews/cd/index.php?M=all&L=T URB Magazine :: CD Reviews ] ] The DVD contains most of the band's music videos as well as over two hours of "extensive and rare" live performance footage. [ [http://www.thrilljockey.com/catalog/?id=100394 Thrill Jockey Records ] ] The set was compiled by the band themselves. [ [http://www.popmatters.com/music/interviews/tortoise-060821.shtml PopMatters Music Interview | A Lazarus Taxon: the Definition of "Tortoise" Continues to Change Before Our Eyes ] ]

The set's title is derived from the palaeontological term "lazarus taxon", meaning a taxon (or grouping of organisms) that disappears from the fossil record only to reappear again at a later point, which in turn refers back to the resurrection of Lazarus by Jesus in the New Testament.

The photography used in the artwork was personally selected by the band from the work of retired Swiss police officer Arnold Odermatt, who became noted for his pictures of accident scenes and police training, often returning to accident scenes he had photographed to shoot them again once they were free of people. Tortoise were given permission to use the pictures from Odermatt himself, and from Berlin's Springer & Winckler Galerie, which first unearthed and promoted the artist's work .

Track listing

"All tracks written by Tortoise except where noted".

Disc one

#"Gamera" – 11:53
#"The Source of Uncertainty" – 3:42
#"Blackbird" – 5:01
#"Sexual For Elizabeth" (S. Annen/D. Bitney/J. Herndon/P. Johnson/J. Marshall/D. McCombs/J. McEntire/J. Parker/Shing02) – 4:49
#"To Day Retrieval" – 3:58
#*Remixed by Autechre
#"Whitewater" – 5:07
#"Didjeridoo" (D. Ellington) – 4:33
#*Originally performed by Duke Ellington
#"Autumn Sweater" (G. Hubley/I. Kaplan/J. McNew) – 7:07
#*Originally performed by Yo La Tengo
#"Wait" (J. Parker) – 4:27
#"A Grape Dope" – 4:12
#"Restless Waters" – 3:41
#"Vaus" – 5:01
#"Blue Station" – 5:34

Disc two

#"Madison Area" – 3:27
#"TNT" – 10:03
#*Remixed by Nobukazu Takemura
#"Why We Fight" – 4:23
#"Elmerson, Lincoln, and Palmieri" – 2:39
#"Peering" – 5:11
#"Goriri" – 6:40
#"As You Said" (I. Curtis/B. Sumner/P. Hook/S. Morris) – 4:21
#* Originally performed by Joy Division
#"CTA" – 5:07
#"Deltitnu" – 5:50
#"Adverse Camber" – 6:00
#*Remixed by Autechre
#"Cliff Dweller Society" (D. Bitney/K. Brown/D. Fliegel/J. Herndon/D. McCombs/J. McEntire) – 15:23
#"Waihopai" – 4:13

Disc three

"Tracks 1-7 previously issued as "Rhythms, Resolutions & Clusters" (1995)".
#"Alcohall" – 4:03
#"Your New Rod" – 4:18
#"Cobwebbed" – 4:38
#"The Match Incident" – 5:31
#"Tin Can Puerto Rican Remix" – 4:24
#"Not Quite East of the Ryan" – 5:08
#"Initial Gesture Protraction" – 4:47
#"Cornpone Brunch Watt Remix" – 4:18
#*Remixed by Mike Watt

Disc four (DVD)

#"Salt The Skies" (video)
#"Dear Grandma And Grandpa" (video)
#"Glass Museum" (video)
#"Seneca" (video)
#"Four Day Interval" (video)
#"The Suspension Bridge at Iguazú Falls" (video)
#"Monica" (video)
#*Live at Primavera Sound, 2005
#"Gamera"/"Glass Museum"/"Reservoir"/"Djed"/"The Equator"/"Vaus"/"Cornpone Brunch"
#*Live in Toronto, 1996
#"Ten Day Interval"/"Othello"
#*Live at Deutsches Jazz Festival, 1999
#"Seneca"
#*Live on "Chic-a-Go-Go", 2005
#"Salt The Skies"
#*Live for "Burn to Shine" , 2004

Personnel

*Dan Bitney
*Bundy K. Brown
*John Herndon
*Douglas McCombs
*John McEntire
*David Pajo
*Jeff Parker

References

External links

* [http://www.thrilljockey.com/catalog/?id=100394 "A Lazarus Taxon" at Thrill Jockey]
* [http://www.artnet.com/Galleries/Artists_detail.asp?G=&gid=1008&which=&aid=12769&ViewArtistBy=online&rta=http://www.artnet.com Artist Arnold Odermatt at the Springer & Winckler Galerie site]