Similar Albums:
- Artist: Naked City
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1992
- Total Time: 22:46
- Type: Compilation (best of), Soundtrack, Contains explicit content
- Genre: Avant-Garde
Review
Both Torture Garden and Leng Tch'e are from Zorn's work with Naked City, a collective of avant luminaries including Joey Baron, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith, and Wayne Horvitz. (Yamataka Eye provides vocals on Torture Garden.) Originally released on a small Japanese label, the two-CD set was subsequently issued on Zorn's Tzadik imprint. For its U.S. re-release, the set was dubbed the Black Box, with no cover art or discerning characteristics other than the list of musicians and album title. The reason for the Black Box assignation is the unprintable nature of the artwork (banned in the U.S.) accompanying the album in its Japanese pressing. Upon opening the album, one is greeted by scenes from various Japanese pornographic films and shots of the final public execution to take place in Japan. These rather forbidding pictures set the tone for the music, inspired by Zorn's increasing fascination with the darker side of Japanese culture. Leng Tch'e, translated as "thousand pieces," is a ritual torture (involving administration of large doses of opium to a victim during the course of slow dismemberment) practiced in Japan until the early 20th century; Zorn's musical piece of the same name is a slow, abrasive, 30-minute exploration of the emotions behind this torture. Torture Garden is based on the maniacal anguish presented in the S&M film underground of late-'80s Japan. With its series of 42 pieces ranging in length from eight seconds to one minute, the Torture Garden CD reflects Zorn's infatuation with this element of the Japanese psyche. The complex arrangements span jazz, metal, rock, fusion, and cacophonous noise. With their opposing tempos, the two discs complement each other well. Providing a sense of Zorn's diverse capabilities for expression, this is perhaps the most intense work done by Naked City, and certainly the most ominous. ~ Marc Gilman, All Music GuideTracks
CD 1
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Blood Is Thin | John Zorn | Naked City | (1:00) |
| Demon Sanctuary | John Zorn | Naked City | (:38) |
| Thrash Jazz Assassin | John Zorn | Naked City | (:45) |
| Dead Spot | John Zorn | Naked City | (:32) |
| Bonehead | John Zorn | Naked City | (:51) |
| Speedball | John Zorn | Naked City | (:37) |
| Blood Duster | John Zorn | Naked City | (:13) |
| Pile Driver | John Zorn | Naked City | (:33) |
| Shangkuan Ling-Feng | John Zorn | Naked City | (1:14) |
| Numbskull | John Zorn | Naked City | (:29) |
| Perfume of a Critic's Burning Flesh | John Zorn | Naked City | (:24) |
| Jazz Snob Eat Shit | John Zorn | Naked City | (:24) |
| The Prestidigitator | John Zorn | Naked City | (:43) |
| No Reason to Believe | John Zorn | Naked City | (:26) |
| Hellraiser | John Zorn | Naked City | (:39) |
| Torture Garden | John Zorn | Naked City | (:35) |
| Slan | John Zorn | Naked City | (:23) |
| Hammerhead | John Zorn | Naked City | (:08) |
| The Ways of Pain | John Zorn | Naked City | (:31) |
| The Noose | John Zorn | Naked City | (:10) |
| Sack of Shit | John Zorn | Naked City | (:43) |
| Blunt Instrument | John Zorn | Naked City | (:53) |
| Osaka Bondage | John Zorn | Naked City | (1:14) |
| Igneous Ejaculation | John Zorn | Naked City | (:20) |
| Shallow Grave | John Zorn | Naked City | (:40) |
| Ujaku | John Zorn | Naked City | (:27) |
| Kaoru | John Zorn | Naked City | (:50) |
| Dead Dread | John Zorn | Naked City | (:45) |
| Billy Liar | John Zorn | Naked City | (:10) |
| Victims of Torture | John Zorn | Naked City | (:22) |
| Speedfreaks | John Zorn | Naked City | (:29) |
| New Jersey Scum Swamp | John Zorn | Naked City | (:41) |
| S&M Sniper | John Zorn | Naked City | (:14) |
| Pig Fucker | John Zorn | Naked City | (:23) |
| Cairo Chop Shop | John Zorn | Naked City | (:22) |
| Fuck the Facts | John Zorn | Naked City | (:11) |
| Obeah Man | John Zorn | Naked City | (:17) |
| Facelifter | John Zorn | Naked City | (:34) |
| N.Y. Flat Top Box | John Zorn | Naked City | (:43) |
| Whiplash | John Zorn | Naked City | (:19) |
| The Blade | John Zorn | Naked City | (:36) |
| Gob of Spit | John Zorn | Naked City | (:18) |
CD 2
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Leng Tch'e | John Zorn | Naked City | (31:39) |
