Operation Infinite Joy

Operation Infinite Joy Artist: Martin Tielli
Label: Six Shooter Records
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 623339109123
EAN: 0623339109123
ASIN: B0000DIJM2


Release Date: 2003-10-02

Operation Infinite Joy


Related Categories:

General General
Categories | Rock | Styles | Music

Tracks:

  1. Beauty On
  2. Ok By Me
  3. The Temperance Society Choir
  4. Sergeant Kraulis
  5. Andy By The Lake
  6. Cold Blooded Old Times
  7. Winnipeg
  8. Waterstudies
  9. Ship Of Fire
  10. Kathleen

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Passport to the North Country.......2004-10-16

One of the best CD purchases I've made all year.
The quality of songwriting on this album is phenomenal. The only reason I didn't give the full 5 star rating is that such intricate composition requires the listener to prepare themselves for listening that is well beyond any cliche or any cheap hook. Some listeners may find it disorienting and unfamiliar. Tielli is a musician's musician for sure. Take a bit of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, blend it up with some Queen, a dash of aromatic cynicism, ice from a frozen canadian lake and a garnish of smog; Operation Infinite Joy.

5 out of 5 stars Sweet, rich, beautiful, Martin.......2004-08-23

This is one of the most deep, intriguing, and complex albums I've ever heard. Full of sudden changes in mood, peculiar instrumentation choices (a glockenspiel in a rock album?), layers upon layers of vocal and guitar richness, lyrics that are by turns troubling and delightful, and an amazing overall originality of sound -- Operation Infinite Joy is a masterpiece.

Moreover, it's just about the exact opposite of Tielli's earlier solo album, "We didn't even suspect that he was the poppy salesman", which was also a masterpiece. O.I.J. sounds more like a Rheostatics album, in its wilful weirdness and lush arrangements, but the tone is consistently Tielli: dreamlike, tinged with fear and regret as well as inexplicable joy, and daringly personal. The lyrics are much more abstract than in "Poppy Salesman", and that plus the abundance of orchestration and the occasional hints of politics in the lyrics here might make you think this is a less emotionally honest record.

If you give it time, though, you'll understand the progression this album makes from the noise and confusion of "Beauty On", "OK by Me", and "The Temperance Society Choir" (the first three songs) to the focused grief of "Waterstriders", "Ship of Fire", and "Kathleen". The album is about retreat and escape. As Tielli captions the last pages of his beautiful liner notes (he's a visual artist as well as a musician), "I will start a new life on the periphery of civilization."

If you are at all interested in seeing what kind of art form rock music could become, you need to hear this album.

5 out of 5 stars

Music Album:

  1. Human Hand, Animal Band ~ Rhythm of Black Lines
  2. Noxious Saucy Beast ~ The Press , and The Press
  3. Beyond & Before: BBC Recordings 1969-1970 ~ Yes
  4. Moby Dick ~ Moby Dick
  5. Star Time International Presents Supercuts ~ Various Artists
  6. Language Arts
  7. Guitar Slinger ~ Brian Setzer
  8. Panic Movement ~ The Hiss
  9. Sing a Song of Revolution ~ The Go Set
  10. Asobi Seksu ~ Asobi Seksu

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Two Guys From South Dakota ~ Bruce Arnold & Mike Miller

The New Al Grey Quintet ~ Al Grey

In Boston 1939-1940 ~ Duke Ellington

Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra (1940) ~ Glen Gray

London Concert, Vols. 1 & 2 ~ George Russell

Deko Boko ~ Cicala Mvta

Nuestro Juramento ~ Enrique Herrera

Tempero ~ Ze Ricardo

Novo Millennium ~ Bebeto

Shape Shifters ~ Ubaka Hill