Welcome Crummy Mystics

Welcome Crummy Mystics Artist: Frankie Sparo
Label: Constellation
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 666561002329
EAN: 0666561002329
ASIN: B00008AJQ3


Release Date: 2003-03-04

Welcome Crummy Mystics


Related Categories:

General General
Categories | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Experimental Rock Experimental Rock
Categories | Rock | Alternative Styles | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Singer-Songwriters Singer-Songwriters
Categories | Pop | Styles | Music
Pop Rock Pop Rock
Categories | Pop | Styles | Music
General General
Categories | Rock | Styles | Music

Tracks:

  1. Hospitalville
  2. Sleds to Moderne
  3. Akzidenz Grotesk
  4. Back on Speed
  5. Bright Angel Park
  6. My Sistr
  7. Camera
  8. City as Might Have Been
  9. This Lie

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars great stuff.......2005-08-09

more like 4 1/2, but it still deserves more than four.
if your reading about sparo, chances are your already familliar with the many wonderful dynasty of post-rock bands on the label Constellation, if not, then frankie probably isntyour best bet for a first time listen, but if your already familiar with his past work,then you will love this, its definately the best put together album of his and a very nice enchanted listen. if you were going to start listening to frankie sparo, I'd recommend this as the first album to pick up, its definately the easiest to get into, in my opinion at least. all in all a very enjoyable album.

3 out of 5 stars Junkmedia.org Review - Worth checking out.......2003-03-23

Frankie Sparo's first album, My Red Scare, was a welcome change for Montreal's Constellation Records. The promise of the label's future looked mixed: what could they bring to the picture beyond droning post-rock? Sparo's debut was incomparable to any previous Constellation release, focusing more on the basic elements of voice and guitar than apocalyptic guitar marathons or endless repetition. The concept was simple and effective, with subtle instrumentation coloring Sparo's engaging lyrics. With Sparo's arrival, it became clear that Constellation wasn't after a definitive sound, but a defined aesthetic, rooted in the basics of DIY and experimentation -- and a lack of compromise.

Welcome Crummy Mystics, Sparo's second full length, reveals different concerns than his debut. The opening tracks don't support this new direction, and then things begin to unravel. The following two numbers, "Akzidenz Grotesk" and "Back On Speed," introduce us to Sparo's rock and roll side, where he adopts a trashier voice to accompany the shift in style.

This isn't pop music, though, and the songs revel in juxtaposing '60s pop techniques with Sparo's naturally sinister and morbid style. For instance, a choir of harmonizers singing "nah nah na na" pops up as a stark contrast to Sparo's exasperated moaning in "Akzidenz Grotesk." The song's brevity is its chief strength. "Back On Speed" (as the title unsurprisingly suggests) continues rocking, complete with riffs, maracas, and an even more damaged approach to vocals, like a baritone Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse).

The shift in style from the first set of two songs to the second is like following up a mug of strong, black coffee with a glass of grapefruit juice. The second half of the album serves as a lazy Sunday afternoon to the first half's destructive Saturday night.

Welcome Crummy Mystics showcases Sparo's progress as a singer/songwriter/arranger, and his flair for eccentricity. While the rock element can be appreciated as a personal innovation for Sparo, it disrupts a potentially great album, and comes off as an attempt to insert some overt variety amidst familiar elements. If you follow Constellation but haven't yet checked out Sparo, you're missing out -- even if a non-compromised product means, in this case, a less unified one.

Ben Gill

Music Album:

  1. Hitchhiker & Other Hits ~ Bobby Curtola
  2. Dr. Who: Music From the Tenth Planet
  3. Little Red Songbook ~ Momus
  4. This Is for the Blue Collars ~ Ettison Clio
  5. Light Years ~ Kylie Minogue
  6. Best of Aphrodite's Child ~ Aphrodite's Child
  7. Tribute to Sting ~ Stars at Studio 99
  8. New World Record ~ Poster Children
  9. My Beauty
  10. Picturesque Matchstickable Messages from the Status Quo

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath ~ Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath

Hot Toddy ~ Ralph Flanagan Orchestra

Train & River ~ Jimmy Giuffre

Famous Manchester Free Trade Hall Concert 1st Half ~ George Lewis & Ken Colyer

Fascinatin' Rhythms

The Adventures In Jazz Orchestra Celebrates Christmas ~ Ted Blumenthal

La Gloire de l'Operette: 1922-1937 ~ Various Artists

Waga Arubeki Basyo ~ Mucc

Elétrica ~ Daniela Mercury

100% Sega V.2 ~ Various Artists