Big City Orchestra, "Collected Works of Od McUb"

If you've ever heard a CD by Big City Orchestra, you know just what notto expect. This disc consists of various people reading selections fromthe cut-up books of Od McUb, who, according to the liner notes (nudgenudge wink wink? or is it true?) spliced together various books whileliving in Holland in the years 1911-1918 to give himself something newto read. The Silverman, Ed Ka-Spel, and Monte Cazaza are among thosewho read selections. Ka-Spel's book describes how to gather ultrasoundsto keep in jars (be sure to have your mom pokes holes in the top first!)by digging in your backyard. All texts seem to have been recorded in asingle take, and boo-boos are left in. The Silverman, for instance,cracks up over `tri-cyclic antidepressants'. The music is quitevaried. Kan't-Spell and the Silver dude are not credited with providingmusic, and as far as I can tell, they didn't. But who can tell? Ican't. The music in some pieces adds sound effects to highlight thetext. In other pieces, the music gets Merzbow noisy and obscures thetext. The CD, as usual for BCO, ends with selections from asound-effects library. Make no mistake, this is DIFFICULT music. I'msure I won't listen often, but nonetheless, I like it.

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