Is this progressive rock? Probably it is not. It is, however, fusion. We generally land fusion under prog. It's quite similar to the music of Frank Zappa, too. This is a killer jazz based album that just plain rocks.
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Track by Track Review
Bandzilla Rises!!!
This is a weird little opening section with strange sound effects and a spoken vocal thing.
Live as One This comes in with some serious funk. I can make out some Parliament in the mix along with Frank Zappa and more. It's like pure jazz blended with some humor and rock and roll. It's a real powerhouse tune.
You Can't Get There from Here This is a bit more of a serious jazz number. Still there is a lot of rock in the mix. It also has a great groove to it.
L.A. Existential This one is incredibly strange. It's also very cool. Parts of it are pure jazz. Other things get into some pretty bizarre musical territory, landing in the definite progressive rock vicinity.
This World Is Mine Here we find ourselves set a lot more in a rock vein. In a lot of ways this makes me think of Steely Dan. That's a compliment of the highest order coming from me.
Compassion's in Fashion Funk and jazz drive this thing in great ways. This is an instrumental, in contrast to the previous cuts. It's much more pure jazz (or perhaps fusion), too.
Stone Jungle This thing is a powerhouse funk meets jazz and rock tune. It's such a cool groove.
The 5th Elephant Another instrumental, this is killer fusion.
The Alligator from West 15th Here we get a stomper that's part jazz, part Frank Zappa and just a bit on the weird side.
Love Don't Mean a Thing This is a very bluesy cut that's pretty much pure jazz.
Welcome to My World A mellower motif starts this in pure fusion territory.
Talkin' in Whispers I like the melodic jazz on this a lot. Somehow it reminds me just a bit of Prince for some reason. There is some great fusion in the instrumental work.
Tip for a Toreador There is a real trippy element to this. I love the vocal arrangement. There is a playful kind of feeling on this thing. It's a great cut. There is some unusual world music stuff later that takes it in a completely different direction.
Why Is This World so Strange? If you can imagine Frank Zappa working with Barenaked Ladies, you are probably picturing something that sounds a lot like this. It has some weird modern processing. It's more of a rock song than a lot of the rest, but there is still plenty of fusion here.
