Originally posted by manuscriptreplica
Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt (8:42)First bass solo in the history of prog rock no doubt.

Originally posted by SubtleDagger
BTW, you seem to know much already about Julio. Can you give me any evidence of what I've been hearing lately, that he comitted suicide by jumping off an overpass into traffic? It would make sense in TMV's music, but I can't find any proof of the matter. If you knew about it, that is.... it makes Televators make a lot more sense, as well as Embroglio.

i also remember reading rat poison somewhere

The rat poison he shot into his right arm after the coma, when he lost all feeling in his right side. It shriveled up and he couldn't use it.

Listen to "Embroglio" (by ATD-I) and "Televators" for more on what happened at the overpass.... I believe "Embroglio" actually mentions the street name as well. I'll give you a quote from one of Cedric's close friends as soon as I can.

And that booklet does need to come out. :angry:

Here you go... this is a quote from a member at www.thecomatorium.com, at a message board for song meanings.

Julio went into underground seclusion, right before killing himself. When he was meditating in solitude, Ben visited Julio for four days and left on March 14. On March 15, Julio came out of subterranean isolation and jumped off of the Mesa street bridge, onto the highway below. He was hit by three cars, two of them running his body over completely.
Two songs also directly back up my story: "Concertina" ("On the 14th you stole what hasn't grown old") and At The Drive-In's "Embroglio" ("He's stranded on the Mesa Street exit").

I love that album, and am a hardcore fan of the band, but that was one of the weaker reviews i have read. Flea's basswork on that album is nothing special at all. I dont consider myself a good bassist by any standard (i cant touch Classical Thump, Portrait of Tracy etc.) but i could play everything flea did on that album with no problems, including that bass solo in Take the Veil. Eva Gardener (the bassist on Tremulant) did a MUCH better job. Just another small flaw, Jeremy Ward died about a week before the release of the album, not afterwards. Furthermore, Televators isnt the only song with an acoustic, Tira me a las Aranas is played with a classical guitar.

In regards to Julio. He shot up rat poison and went into a coma for a week. That is what the bulk of the album is about, Julio's experiences while in a coma. In real life, he woke up from the coma, then jumped off a bridge into intersecting traffic. That is what track 10 is about. When he wakes up and then chooses to die. The album itself is a fictional account of the adventures he might have had when he was in a coma. His choosing to die marks hte completion of his journey. The song "Concertina" is basically Cedric accusing Ben of driving Julio to suicide ("on the fourth day you stole what hasnt come home").

The Mars Volta's live set is SO much better than the recording. I saw them when they were headlining a tour, and it was intense. Their new bassist (Juan Alderate) is much better. During the bass solo in take the Veil, he started the solo, and the rest of hte band left, and he did this awesome 5-minute solo before the rest of hte band came on and finished the song with him. My only beef with this album is how boring Inertiatic is, and how quiet Ikey is. They need to turn him up becuase he is incredible. If you wanna talk about the Mars Volta, IM me at YObassist.

ok cheers (for the julio info)... i don't really pay much attention to lyrics and song meanings because i'm not that interested, but it's nice to know. I have not heard Embroglio so i will download it now. i heard about the rat poison from www.themarvolta.com but now that i read it he clearly didnt die from it.
i dont think eva gardener played THAT much better than flea did. i never stated that fleas work was that hard either. i can play portrait of tracy rather easily, are you saying that is not a masterpiece? the solo in take the veil is a gem. eva kept the beat, that is all, and added quite a few cool riffs. Flea did the same, but i feel in a better fashion, but meh.

p.s. another good mars volta site: www.inertiatic.com

I think that it was wrong of me to say that it was a weak review, reading it a second time, its actually quite good, although i disagree with a couple of things said. I think Eva's work on Concertina and Eunuch Provocateur are much better than anything flea did on the album. Flea did a great job of holding hte beat, as did Eva, but the only thing impressive about Fleas work was that one bass fill in Drunkship, and the solo is OK, but really nothing that mind blowing. I wasnt saying earlier that PoT isnt a masterpiece, because it definitely is, I was just saying that im not a good bass player, but that album was nothing special as far as TECHNICAL bass playing goes. The bass playing on tehre is still phenomenal in the sense that it fits the song. I visit www.inertiatic.com on a somewhat regular basis. I also am part of the 'official' street team, and i used to post on that message board regularly, before i found this place.

^^^ Concertina IS a wicked bassline, and so is Eunuch Provocateur, I wonder why they got rid of her?

yeah, its funny how they got rid of her and ikey at the same time but they took ikey back. Apparently, as far as theory is concerned, she was a genius.

yeah i read somewhere that she had multiple music degrees, and when cedric discovered her she had just completed a degree in indian ancient music or something

Well I'll be ****ed, I didn't know that.

[QUOTE=manuscriptreplica]yeah i read somewhere that she had multiple music degrees, and when cedric discovered her she had just completed a degree in indian ancient music or something[/QUOTE]

Some info about Eva from an interview with the band...

From Interview with Cedric Bixler, Mon 24.03.2002, Leeds Cockpit

People:
CB - Cedric Bixler
MR - Mike Randall
DA - Dicky Allen

DA - So how did the Mars Volta line-up get together?
CB - Well, we were just kinda doing Defacto and we wanted to expand on what Defacto does, but in a rock sense, and take it a little further, and not just keep it dub-orientated, which can only lead you to so many places. And so Ikey, our keyboard player, introduced me to Eva. Eva was in the process of graduating from UCLA, and she has a degree in Ethnomusicology, which is all, you know, I'm sure people reading this will be like "so what?", but to us it was a big deal because she understood the guajiro salsa. She understood a lot of what we were looking for.

MR - Shes got fantastic rhythm.
CB - Yeah, exactly. And on top of that it was especially important that she was a woman, you know, and it was especially important that Ikey is black, and its especially important that the people we play with are from ethnic backgrounds. It was very, very important. It wasn't a calculated move, but at the same time, the fact that they were naturally coming in the band, I felt like it was important, like it was something special that was happening, and we couldn't just let it go.

MR - So it was kind of to mix everything up?
CB - Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we listen to Sly and the Family Stone, you know, and that to me is an important influence, because sometimes musically I don't like them, but when I see them; I saw what Sly and the Family Stone did, and it was very, very, very important at the time, San Francisco, where they're from, blah blah blah, where we're from, what we're doing, you know, I think its very important that Eva liked what we were doing. The first time we played with Eva everyone improv'd for about two hours straight; like two hours straight of just pure improv. It was like going, "Hey, what's up? My name is so-and-so, I'm a blah blah blah, I like this, I like that.", but musically, and I haven't done that since our friend Julio was alive. So it was important to touch upon that again because I wanted to do that again and bring back a natural organic dance rhythm and a natural organic rock, you know? So Eva really clicked well, and we ended up talking to her more and more. She has such an amazing history already, you know. Her father was bass player for the Birds, the English Birds, her father was bass player for the Creation, her uncle is the engineer for Led Zeppelin albums and **** like that, so shes kind of like British rock royalty, you know. But she keeps it very low-key and lets her playing do the talking and the most we ever get out of it is to hear cool stories about her growing up and having these people around, the more and more I think about it, and the more and more I listen to like Biff, Bang, Pow or, you know, Making Time ... anything by the Creation, anything by, like, the Birds, you know, its like, I have my Nuggets box-set, I'm just like, "God ****, Eva, you play so much like your dad." And its an honour. Its a total ****ing honour, because on our first tour her father passed away, and so she had to fly home and everything, and I was like, for her to come do this, she was doing what her dad was doing at that age, and its really important for her to do it now because her dad told her. Her dad was like, "Go. Do what I was doing at that age. Don't worry about me." And I felt like, I just felt honoured that we're in a band with her, because in a way shes carrying a torch for that, you know, and its really important. Because I listen to that ****, you know, and then she lets it on like, "Oh, by the way, my dad is blah blah blah", and we're like, "Oh my God! Thats awesome!"



MR - Yeah. Where do you see The Mars Volta going in the future? Do you have anything planned for the near future? Do you have a game-plan for the next couple of years?
CB - ....Like since Eva graduated from UCLA she has extensive knowledge of Balinese music and stuff like that, so we are in the process of experimenting with that. So when you hear our full-length, it may not even be remotely what it sounds like on stage, which was what we used to brag about with At The Drive-In, "Okay, this album was gonna be blah blah blah", and then it never ended up that way. This time we kind of put our money where our mouth is and actually do it....

"Eva was in the process of graduating from UCLA, and she has a degree in Ethnomusicology"
thats what i meant from Indian degree.... :lol:

"Hey, what's up? My name is so-and-so, I'm a blah blah blah, I like this, I like that."
for some reason, this had me laughing for quite a while

My brother is getting me this album for Christmas. From what I've heard from you guys and others, this is supposed to be a great album.

I can't rate it yet, but I will when christmas comes. :thumb:

i even like apparatus... so you know how much i loved this cd :D

This CD is disturbing yet i can't stop listening to it. Ive listened to the final track dozens of times because its so smooth. Some of the songs on this album are kinda boring though like the intro and tira me a las aranas. I also thought apparatus was weak, mainly because the guys voice is really annoying and at times the music is too chaotic. Overall though this is definately one of the best CDs of 2003.

this is one of the only album and band that got me un-controlably into music

great review

I just got this album this morning for Christmas, and I must say it's easily one of the best I've heard lately. The way the Mars Volta can merge addictive vocal melodies and complex, engaging rhythm work so smoothly, and keep up a brilliant and somewhat confusing lyrical concept throughout an hour-long album is a testament to their genius.

This one's gonna stay in my stereo for a very long while.

5/5

Amen to that Maveryck. I finally took it out because I got some new albums for X-mas, but I actually wasn't tired of it yet. I guess I'll put it in later if and when I get tired of my new picks (80s Metallica and Maiden, you decide).