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Review by LC July 15, 2004 (3 of 3 found this review helpful)
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Review: Stereo/Multichannel SACD
Audio System: Stereo - Sony ES, Placette, Rogue, Meadowlark, Cardas (see User Details)
Multichannel - Denon, Marantz, Bryston, Paradigm Reference (HT system)
Music/Performance:
"When the Taiko sounds and our spirits reach the same level, we are one. If we can't reach our own spirit we can't give it to anyone else, so first we must find those energies within ourselves. These vibrations transfer to nature... The whole world vibrates; each of us is a vibrating member. Our rhythm culture is now reaching out to others. This allows us to resonate and entrain with one another..."
This is some of the insightful commentary on the "Mondo Head" project, offered to the listener about to embark on this musical journey by its director, former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. But after trying to read this hilarious gibberish, I recommend that you pick yourself up off the floor and go ahead and listen to the album anyway. This music is very cool. I'm not sure that it is very good, but did I mention that it is very cool! Although billed as a Kodo album and classified as "World Music," this is really a Mickey Hart album, and one occasionally suspects that some of the cultures whose music is being stirred into this percussive potpourri were actually hallucinated by Hart. That said, the talent on this album is for real. Japanese Taiko drummers Kodo are a legitimate international sensation, as is Indian tabla prodigy Zakir Hussain, with whom Hart collaborated on the Grammy award winning "Planet Drum." Unfortunately, you never really get to hear the kind of sustained intricate playing that made these people international sensations. Most of Kodo's albums would contrast quite noticeably with Mondo Head, and even the Bill Laswell electo-acoustic supergroup Tabla Beat Science gives Hussain a much better chance to shine (although track 7, "Daraijin," is pretty good). Overall, Mondo Head is a lot of fun; though of somewhat dubious "World" authenticity, the music does not become kitschy, clichéd or boring. The diversity of instruments (not just drums!) and the irresistible rhythms make for some great listening, if not exactly great music. You may also be a bit let down if you're expecting to channel an ancient spirit or merge with the universal life force.
Sonics:
I have not heard any of the other Kodo SACDs, but I think this is about as good a sound as anyone could ask for with this type of content: big, complicated, dynamic music with a lot of instruments and voices doing strange things. I believe Mondo Head was conceived as a multichannel project, and it shows. The multichannel program is so vivid and immersing that you will think the vibrating members of Kodo/etc. are reaching out to entrain you right in your listening room! (Ha! - couldn't help that.) Seriously, though, the content is perfect for multichannel and they don't waste the opportunity. There is a marvelous picture in the booklet of the recording process, with Hart in the middle of a sea of drums, microphones and sound barriers. The final product has a whole lot of other stuff mixed in, but it all works. "Okesa Prayer," for instance, uses a long sample from a recent recording that Hart did with the Tibetan Gyuto Tantric Choir. Even though I'd already heard this from the original recording, my heart practically skipped a beat as the unearthly, overdubbed overtone chanting extended out to surround me. Be warned: this recording is not really made for a cobbled together HT systems with dinky centre and surround speakers. Jeff Fritz of Soundstage! says that it "may be the ultimate multichannel system test" because of the demands of tonal consistency it places on the extra channels, and the challenge of bass and dynamics it presents to a whole system. All that said, it works surprisingly well in stereo; it never feels as though everything you hear in the multichannel mix is being unnaturally crammed into the stereo mix, although while listening to the multichannel mix you think it would have to be. The sound is just denser and more layered.
Summary:
A lot of fun if you're not too purist about your World Music. Absolutely essential if you have a good multichannel rig (or want to be convinced to buy one!), no matter what your musical tastes are; also very exciting and rewarding in stereo.
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Review by Jaws March 7, 2005 (2 of 2 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics:  |
| The recording quality of this SACD is truly exceptional - it is definitely a test disc that anyone with a concern/ obsession for immaculate sound quality would die to own. As a previous reviewer pointed out, however, the same cannot really be said for the quality of the music. At times it gets to be a bit too much of a cultural pot pourri - such as during track 2 when we have what sounds like Native American chanting overlaid with maniacal middle eastern caterwauling, with a little Japanese folk singing thrown in for good measure. Not that it doesn't have its highlights - check out tracks 7 or 10 for a truly involving rythmic mantra (10 especially has a wonderful everything-going-at-once, jalopy feel, with no percussive instrument getting in the way of any other... all manner of sounds, cobbled together into a satisfying whole. Reminded both myself and my partner of the soundtrack to the recent animated film, "Triplets of Belleville"). Although this disc is quite expensive, it is well worth it for the stunning sound quality, especially if you like bottom end and have a subwoofer.
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