I'm pretty sure this is the first album I've posted by a musician who has killed 130 people. And I don't mean in the usual performer's "I killed last night" sense, either.Jack "Dr. Death" Kevorkian, famous for his assisted-suicide activism, is back in the news again. He's promoting a new book about over-population (gee, I wonder what his solution is..?) and recently told a radio interviewer that he has no problem with teen or soldier suicides. So he's just all about killing in general now, it seems.
But he's always been a weird death-obsessed guy. I mean, have you seen his paintings? A talented artist you must admit, and it goes beyond painting - he's also an accomplished jazz flute and organ player as well. In 1997 he released an album with a band dubbed
the Morpheus Quintet, named after the god of sleep. That's some sense of humor, eh?Jack Kevorkian & the Morpheus Quintet "Very Still Life"
The album's pianist/arranger Jean Paul Monsché seems to be most well known for his wedding-band type music service (near as I can tell), but his backing band include members of hip L.A. combo Jump With Joey. So this is no "smooth jazz," but it is pretty chilled. The opening track is a waltz that recalls Angelo Badalamenti's David Lynch scores (Jump With Joey actually played on Lynch's "Inland Empire" soundtrack), and the next couple tunes are fairly funky. One song has scratchy vinyl record sound effects for some reason. The brief "interludes" are just Jack, overdubbed, jammin' with his bad flutey self. The final hidden track, however, is a churchly organ solo. A perfectly pleasant listen for an overcast morning.
| 1 | Whispering, Came Violets | 3:44 | ||
| 2 | Summertooth | 4:30 | ||
| 3 | Brotherhood Of | 3:56 | ||
| 4 | A Very Still Life | 3:05 | ||
| 5 | August To Amber | 4:08 | ||
| 6 | Fuguetta Caffeine | 2:39 | ||
| 7 | Interlude: Unfinished Minuet | 1:12 | ||
| 8 | In Strange Loops | 2:58 | ||
| 9 | Back At Abby's | 3:53 | ||
| 10 | Interlude: Gavat | 0:38 | ||
| 11 | Geoff's Mood | 3:02 | ||
| 12 | Une Lettre De Jean/Hidden Track |
The album was released in one run of 5000 copies, and original copies are going for big bucks now.
2 comments:
I would love to find the fish heads roly poly fish heads song. At one time MTV was actually pretty cool. Found the I'm turning Japanese song and this Dr. K album recently. An odd find was Festus from Gunsmoke it was spoken word and some singing.
Shouldn't be to hard to find "Fish Heads" - it's by Barnes and Barnes.
That Festus album sounds intriguing - I have a "Bonanza" christmas album that's sounds similar.
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