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Thread: Eugene Chadbourne

  1. #1

    Eugene Chadbourne

    ...will be playing in Moscow next week. I'm going, but wanted to have a taste of man's best music first, so I opened his discography and had my jaw drop to the floor. He seems to be a workaholic a-la John Zorn (hardly surprising as they played together a lot, from what I can read), with a penchant for releasing everything that crosses his mind, which means there are several albums to choose from in any given year. I'm pretty sure the quality isn't even on those, so - where to head first? Care to mention any better records? Any fans at all? Thanks in advance!

  2. #2
    Fantastic player, great showman - but arguably with a discog that's somewhat marred by an apparent lack of self-critical limitation. He worked for many years with Zorn, btw - so that figures.

    I'd start with the Shockabilly material. I saw them live many, many years ago (not the original configuration of the band, rather Chadbourne doing Shockabilly stuff) and they were ridiculously fun - although not all of their music is to my liking. Think an even more cerebral or decidedly post-modern Pere Ubu donning surf- and roll-elements galore, but also displaying more Beefheart-traces. His album of vintage improv recordings with Zorn and Henry Kaiser, School/LaCrosse from '78 (reissued on CD by Tzadik) is an amazing showcase of his approach to improv as medium. Locked In a Dutch Coffeeshop from sometime in the early 90s has him paired with Jimmy Carl Black and has the latter's finest drumming since the Mothers days, IMO.

    From what I understand, Chadbourne performs almost exclusively on the banjo these days (he appears on the opening track on French TV's Violence of Amateurs and with Ut Gret). But boy, was he ever influential! People like Jim O'Rourke, Marc Ribot, even Nels Cline are all indebted to this guy. Enjoy the gig, Lev!
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

  3. #3
    Thanks man! Wow, I actually have a Shockabilly record somewhere here, but only played it a couple of times many many years ago and did not realize the Chadbourne connection, silly me. Definitely time for a revisit.

    Yeah I'm preparing myself for a "fun" show first and foremost. A friend of mine who is organizing this told me Eugene's an amazing showman, talker and entertainer, who really brings a sense of cheer and amusement to the improvised music. So I'm very much looking forward to attending the gig. The only downside is Gang of Four playing here on the very same night – looks like Moscow is a hot place to tour again, after a couple of years of economic downfall and musical hibernation. After some consideration I decided to go see Chadbourne rather than GoF (not a fan of anything they did past first three albums anyway). Hopefully that'll prove a good decision.

  4. #4
    ^Indeed he IS an amazing showman, with a wit that's both dry, intelligent and childlishly absurd at the same time. In that repsect he reminds me a lot of what I've heard from people who've seen performances of Charles O'Maera (formerly Vrtacek), whose Forever Einstein trio actually touch upon somewhat Shockabilly-reminiscent terrain once in a while.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

  5. #5
    Love the man, have about 70 albums from him. (gosh I just counted them again to make sure, didn't realize I had so many )
    He is great live, though I haven't seen him in recent years so I wouldn't know about the banjo only policy.
    I would recommend the following -

    The Zu Side of the Chadbourne / Motorhellington - 2 killer collaborations with Italian band ZU

    I talked to death in stereo - all of his Leo label albums are good, this one is a favorite and pretty varied

    21 years later - a live show with Han Bennink, great show with many live classics

    Country protest and Country protest anew - as the title suggest, country songs! but in Doc Chad style

    Therell be no tears tonight - great album with guests like Zorn and Tom Cora etc

    From recent years I would recommend the island of three shrieves

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by flytomars
    Love the man, have about 70 albums from him.
    Well I've got quite a neat LP and CD collection in here, but I don't think I have so many albums by any one artist! Thanks a lot for the recommendations – will do my best to try them out.

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