Track Listing

1. Spillane
2. Two Lane Highway: Preacher Man/White Line Fever/Nacogdoches Gumbo/East
3. Two Lane Highway: Hico Killer/Long Mile to Houston
4. Forbidden Fruit

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77993 in Music
• Released on: 2002-09-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: CD

From Amazon.com
Before John Zorn broke with the Nonesuch label to form his own record companies, he recorded a series of excellent titles there, of which Spillane may be the best. The title cut temporarily removes the moratorium on the use of the phrase tour de force; it splices dozens of brief musical motifs to tell a plotless tale of haunting, affectionately tongue-in-cheek film-noir pastiche. "Forbidden Fruit" is a deeply intricate, speed-induced collaboration with Kronos Quartet, which includes Japanese vocalist Ohta Hiromi and turntablist Christian Marclay. And "Two-Lane Highway," the track that makes this album a true must-have, is a kind of blues concerto written for guitarist Albert Collins, who is prodded willingly through a selection of tight settings, matched riff for riff by Robert Quine's heavily echoed six-string, and supported by, among others, dual drummers Ronald Shannon Jackson and Bobby Previte and organist Big John Patton. --Marc Weidenbaum

Customer Reviews

Awwwwww yeah.
John Zorn, Spillane (Nonesuch, 1987)

Spillane was the first Zorn album I was ever introduced to, when my radio show co-host put on the twenty-six minute title track when we needed to take a break. I was instantly hooked, and have been ever since (it's been about fifteen years now).

Spillane is a jazz record, but not a jazz record like anything you've ever heard. This is the style that would eventually morph into Zorn's spinoff project Naked City; lots of sampling, complex rhythms that suddenly cut out and then pop back in, structure that requires a dissertation to dissect. It's the aural equivalent of a Jean-Luc Godard film. The title track is an absolute must for all fans of... well, okay, for everyone.

The second side of the album is a little more traditional, but not much. It's more recognizably John Zorn, if that makes any sense. Ghosts of bop float through Zorn's avant-garde style, lending the whole thing an oddly nostalgic feel, but again, it's unmistakably jazz.

Lovely stuff, perhaps Zorn's finest moment. Highly recommended. **** ½

One of my Favorite Albums of all time, defintely on my DiD
DiD- Desert Island Discs
Never before have i come a across such a unique album that moves in three different musical directions. The first title track is like a long movie trailer for a Mike Hammer movie, except with all the visuals taken out--truly a surreal experience. the second track, Two-Lane Highway, divided into two parts is a brillant blues-odyssey-through-Texas track starring the great Albert Collins, not only does it feature his brilliant guitar playing, but humor, too. the last track is my favorite, Forbidden Fruit, which has a Japanese woman speaking over the Kronos Quartet's moving strings and Christian Marclay scratching string records. John Zorn is a true original and listening to Spillane feels like listening to a radio with the station always changing. sure, the tracks are long, but if you can't sit through one section of any of these songs, you should have yourself treated for A.D.D. Zorn is famous for saying "if you don't like my music, wait a few seconds 'cause you don't know which direction my music is heading next".
also included in the liner notes is a brilliant interview with John Zorn in which he explains his methods in detail and the lyrics to Spillane and Forbidden Fruit, both in English and Japanese and to top that off, Pictures of the People who inspired the tracks. What more could you ask for?

Three Remarkable Pieces
Three compostions by John Zorn and co. The first, "Spillane," is an homage to the pulp writer narrated by John Lurie and punctuated with cheap, lurid, brilliant jazz. The second, "Two-Lane Highway," features the guitar of Allbert Collins and smokes the difference between jazz and blues. The final piece, "Forbidden Fruit," is a noisy, celebratory collaboration with the Kronos Quartet that stretches the mindspace a bit. Highly recommended.