Painkiller or Parachute

[King]

Thinking of indulging in one of Zorn's boxsets soon. Cannot decide between Painkiller's collected works, or the Parachute Years. For those of you that have either both or just one of them, what are your thoughts on the music/packaging/quality etc.. etc.

[Offering]

Wel, I dont actually own the Painkiller box, although I do have each seperate title, so i cant really comment on that.

I have The Parachute Years though, and, whilst all the discs can be a difficult listen if not in the right mindframe, it does certainly rock. A great addition to each disc are the outtakes from rehearsals, etc. Zorn freaking out because the piece didnt end on a "pip" - classic...I like all the discs, the liner notes are all good ( even though Im still none the wiser as to how each game piece actually works! ) and the packaging is solid - It is just Hockey, Pool, Lacrosse and Archery sets in normal cd cases housed in the black vinyl - type box....

Overall though, go for the Painkiller first. You will love it King, so many great moments there. And seeing as its slightly cheper than TPY, get Painkillers Talisman - Live In Nagoya too. That is superb.....

[DISEman]

If you haven't got all the Naked City recordings yet I would opt for the complete Naked City Studio Recordings first. I love it and play it regularly and the sound really is better than the original Nonesuch and Avant pressings. The book is great but a little unweildy and hard to read - but its a piece of art nonetheless.

If you can stand the intensity of this set I would then recommend the getting the Painkiller box.

The only sides I have from the Parachute years set that I have is "Archery". I got this at a ridiculously low price because the record store had a sale. They thought they marked it down by 50% and misread the original price tag and discounted it to less than 15% of the original price. Apart from being a prized purchase for this reason I hardly ever pull it out - If I want to hear a game piece agai I'll opt for Cobra.

DISE (Definitely I'm Set Exclusively)

[King]

Yeah, I've had the Naked City boxset for a year or so now. And I love it dearly.

Looks like I'll be grabbing the Painkiller boxset for now then. Parachute years can wait until Christmas.

[Offering]

You heard Xu Feng? Though I like all the game pieces / albums, thats my favoruite. It kills.....

[King]

I don't have any of Zorn's game pieces. I've heard Cobra, though.

[mikestack]

king said:

Thinking of indulging in one of Zorn's boxsets soon. Cannot decide between Painkiller's collected works, or the Parachute Years. For those of you that have either both or just one of them, what are your thoughts on the music/packaging/quality etc.. etc.

Depends what you like-- Parachute is more interesting from a Jackson Pollack-like standpoint, the whole notion that the act of making art is perhaps more important than the outcome itself. The music can be very hit-or-miss however, simply because as a wholly improvised form living in the moment, on record it's entirely natural you're going to miss something in the translation.

If you haven't much exposure to Game Pieces, try Xu Feng, which as duet-only pieces is easier to digest, then Cobra (I like the Tokyo Operations variant of it the most, but I believe that's fairly hard to find these days...). I'd hold off on the Parachute box until you've heavy exposure to the later Game Pieces as the earlier ones tend to be a bit more abstract, from a listening perspective. My personal guess is that it's related to the musicians not quite getting the language yet, whereas by the time Cobra, et.al. were recorded, it was old hat to perform in such a manner.

The Painkiller box can also be hit or miss-- Painkiller is all about intensity, even at the cost of everything else, and while I highly enjoy the material, it's not something I'm likely to pull out. If you've not delved much into Painkiller, you can check out Talisman, the live record by them on Tzadik.

Finally, if you're looking to indulge and you don't have the Naked City set, that one is absolutely critical.