Band : The Mars Volta
Album : Scab Dates
Release Year : 2005
Genre : Experimental | Progressive | Rock
Release Year : 2005
Genre : Experimental | Progressive | Rock
Tracklist :
1. "Abrasions Mount the Timpani"
2. "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt"
3. "A. Gust of Mutts"
4. "B. And Ghosted Pouts"
5. "Caviglia"
6. "Concertina"
7. "Haruspex"
8. "Cicatriz"
9. "A. Part I"
10. "B. Part II"
11. "C. Part III"
12. "D. Part IV"
Scabdates is the second official live recording from the band The Mars Volta. It was released on November 8, 2005 and features music recorded between May 2004 and May 2005 during the tours in support of De-Loused in the Comatorium and Frances the Mute. In 2011, NME magazine named it one of the 50 greatest live albums of all time. The "And Ghosted Pouts" section of "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt" was used in the film Get Him to the Greek.
Scabdates is peculiar as only three of the band's songs are represented, consisting mostly of expansions on musical themes which appear elsewhere in their work, or entirely new segments altogether. For example, the lengthy exposition on "Cicatriz," when combined with its introduction "Haruspex", comprises over 48 minutes of the disc; its lengthy jam incorporating themes which would later be used in "Cassandra Gemini" (the performance excerpted here was recorded on May 12, 2004, almost a year before Frances the Mute was released). Oddly enough, the Scabdates version of "Concertina" is shorter than its studio counterpart released on the Tremulant EP. The album ends with Cedric thanking the audience by telling them to "go home and take a bath."
Portions of the album include overdubbing and tape effects that were not part of the original live recordings. "Abrasions Mount the Timpani" features field recordings of mewling babies and airliner announcements that Omar recorded on the road, while "Cicatriz" incorporates an eight-minute psychedelic sound collage of other Mars Volta live performances (notably, performances of "Eunuch Provocateur" and "Cassandra Gemini"), alongside field recordings of the band and others talking and laughing. The album, like many live albums before it, was also mixed to sound as if it came from one performance.
The Mars Volta have freely encouraged the trading of bootlegged live performances, but Scabdates was lauded by many fans for its superior sound quality and for being the first official recording that captured the Volta's lengthy experimental workouts during live performances. Some critics were not impressed with the band's jam sessions, with IGN describing the album as "sonic meandering which some regard as genius and others find to be a futile exercise in pretentious instrumental masturbation."
Like Frances the Mute, portions of Scabdates were arbitrarily cut into separate sections for the CD pressing. "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt" was spread along three tracks, while "Cicatriz" was spread across five; the fifth section, "Part IV", begins with the sound collage mentioned above. On vinyl, "Cicatriz" was split along the third and fourth sides, with "Part IV" taking up the entirety of the latter side.
2. "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt"
3. "A. Gust of Mutts"
4. "B. And Ghosted Pouts"
5. "Caviglia"
6. "Concertina"
7. "Haruspex"
8. "Cicatriz"
9. "A. Part I"
10. "B. Part II"
11. "C. Part III"
12. "D. Part IV"
Scabdates is the second official live recording from the band The Mars Volta. It was released on November 8, 2005 and features music recorded between May 2004 and May 2005 during the tours in support of De-Loused in the Comatorium and Frances the Mute. In 2011, NME magazine named it one of the 50 greatest live albums of all time. The "And Ghosted Pouts" section of "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt" was used in the film Get Him to the Greek.
Scabdates is peculiar as only three of the band's songs are represented, consisting mostly of expansions on musical themes which appear elsewhere in their work, or entirely new segments altogether. For example, the lengthy exposition on "Cicatriz," when combined with its introduction "Haruspex", comprises over 48 minutes of the disc; its lengthy jam incorporating themes which would later be used in "Cassandra Gemini" (the performance excerpted here was recorded on May 12, 2004, almost a year before Frances the Mute was released). Oddly enough, the Scabdates version of "Concertina" is shorter than its studio counterpart released on the Tremulant EP. The album ends with Cedric thanking the audience by telling them to "go home and take a bath."
Portions of the album include overdubbing and tape effects that were not part of the original live recordings. "Abrasions Mount the Timpani" features field recordings of mewling babies and airliner announcements that Omar recorded on the road, while "Cicatriz" incorporates an eight-minute psychedelic sound collage of other Mars Volta live performances (notably, performances of "Eunuch Provocateur" and "Cassandra Gemini"), alongside field recordings of the band and others talking and laughing. The album, like many live albums before it, was also mixed to sound as if it came from one performance.
The Mars Volta have freely encouraged the trading of bootlegged live performances, but Scabdates was lauded by many fans for its superior sound quality and for being the first official recording that captured the Volta's lengthy experimental workouts during live performances. Some critics were not impressed with the band's jam sessions, with IGN describing the album as "sonic meandering which some regard as genius and others find to be a futile exercise in pretentious instrumental masturbation."
Like Frances the Mute, portions of Scabdates were arbitrarily cut into separate sections for the CD pressing. "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt" was spread along three tracks, while "Cicatriz" was spread across five; the fifth section, "Part IV", begins with the sound collage mentioned above. On vinyl, "Cicatriz" was split along the third and fourth sides, with "Part IV" taking up the entirety of the latter side.
