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Frances the Mute

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Frances the Mute
Frances the Mute cover
Studio album by The Mars Volta
Released March 1 2005
Recorded 2004
Genre Progressive Rock
Length 76:57 (CD edition)
77:19 (Triple vinyl edition)
Label Gold Standard Laboratories
Universal Records
Producer(s) Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Professional reviews
The Mars Volta chronology
Live EP
(2003) 		Frances the Mute
(2005) 		A Missing Chromosome
(2005)


Frances the Mute is the second studio release by progressive rock band The Mars Volta released in the US on March 1, 2005. The album frequently jumps from Spanish to English. It displays a deep jazz influence while infusing Latin flavor into many songs, most obviously in "L'Via L'Viaquez". Frances the Mute sold an impressive 123,000 copies in its opening week and has sold 465,000 copies as of September 2006.

Contents

[edit] History

Jeremy Ward, audio artist for The Mars Volta until his death, had previously worked as a repo man. One day, Ward discovered a diary in the backseat of a car he was repossessing, and began to note the similarities between his life and that of the author - most notably, that they had both been adopted. The diary told of the author's search for his biological parents, with the way being pointed by a collection of people, their names being the basis for each named track of Frances the Mute. Ward was in the process of completing it at the time of his death.

In December 2004, a full copy of Frances the Mute was leaked to the Internet from the vinyl version. The rip was of poor quality. Encoded as a 96 kbit/s MP3, other versions were reencoded to 192 kbit/s WMA from the source mp3, resulting in even worse audio quality. Gold Standard Laboratories issued a statement decrying the Internet release for its subpar sound quality, and suggesting that fans should respect the band's request not to share the leaked music.

The first single, "The Widow", was released in early 2005 and the album Frances the Mute was released on midnight, March 1, 2005, and sold over 100,000 copies within the first week of release, and debuted at number four on the Billboard Album Charts — no mean feat for a virtually unmarketable album. The title track, "Frances the Mute", which is purportedly meant to be track one on the album and, according to the band, "decodes" the album's story, was not included in the album, and was released on March 14th, 2005, in the United Kingdom. This release was a three set limited edition, containing a single with a live version of "The Widow", played at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on June 13th, and the unreleased title song "Frances the Mute." Also in the collection is a DVD that includes clips from their performance at the Electric Ballroom in London on July 9th, 2003, "The Widow" music video, and the "Televators" music video. Finally, the last item was a 12" single pressed on marble green vinyl [1] including "Frances The Mute" and a live version of "The Widow," released by Gold Standard Labs. Only approximately 10,000 were pressed.

A second single from the album, "L'Via L'Viaquez" was released in June of 2005. Included on this single there was another unreleased song entitled "The Bible and the Breathalyzer."

Frances The Mute, which debuted at a career-best No. 4 on The Billboard 200 and has sold nearly 465,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

[edit] Sound

Frances the Mute is comparable to The Mars Volta's 2003 release De-Loused in the Comatorium, with its cryptic, verbose lyrics, largely improvised musical interludes and highly layered instrumentals, although the progressive rock influence is stronger on Frances the Mute than it was on De-Loused in the Comatorium. The band's musical influences are more prominent; the guitar solo on "The Widow" seems inspired by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, and much of the album has a psychedelic feel to it. Perhaps due to inspiration from such Pink Floyd albums as Meddle, ambient noise plays a larger role on Frances the Mute than it does on De-Loused in the Comatorium. "Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore," for example, begins with 4 minutes of coquí frogs singing while a thick soundscape is slowly built from Cedric Bixler-Zavala's voice and synthesizers.

[edit] Track listing

After removing the title track due to the time constraints of the compact disc, the band had intended to release Frances the Mute as a five track album, with each of the tracks representing one of the characters of the album. However, due to the fact the album's five tracks would have made it an EP in the eyes of Universal Records (despite its 77-minute length), the band would have been paid as they would for an EP. So the album was split into twelve tracks total — there are eight tracks comprising "Cassandra Gemini1," but it is not split upon movement lines. [2]

[edit] Official Tracklist

This is the finalised version, as it was intended to be released on all formats - the original leak, vinyl version and some audio files can be found with this tracklist. This is also written on the back of the CD cover, which has led to much confusion among first time listeners when they discover the album has 12 tracks.

  1. "Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus4" – 13:08
    1. "Sarcophagi"
    2. "Umbilical Syllables"
    3. "Facilis Descenus Averni2"
    4. "Con Safo"
  2. "The Widow" – 5:57
  3. "L'Via L'Viaquez5" – 12:27
  4. "Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" – 13:09
    1. "Vade Mecum3"
    2. "Pour Another Icepick"
    3. "Pisacis (Phra-Men-Ma)"
    4. "Con Safo"
  5. "Cassandra Gemini" – 32:32
    1. "Tarantism"
    2. "Plant a Nail in the Navel Stream"
    3. "Faminepulse"
    4. "Multiple Spouse Wounds"
    5. "Sarcophagi"

[edit] As appears on CD

Due to difficulties with the band's record label they had to split the tracks. This is how the tracks of the album are most commonly named in order to avoid confusion when playing the album on a computer.

  1. "Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus" – 13:02
  2. "The Widow" – 5:50
  3. "L'Via L'Viaquez" – 12:21
  4. "Miranda, That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" – 13:08
  5. "Cassandra Gemini I" – 4:45
  6. "Cassandra Gemini II" – 6:40
  7. "Cassandra Gemini III" – 2:55
  8. "Cassandra Gemini IV" – 7:41
  9. "Cassandra Gemini V" – 4:59
  10. "Cassandra Gemini VI" – 3:48
  11. "Cassandra Gemini VII" – 0:48
  12. "Cassandra Gemini VIII" – 0:53

[edit] As appears on iTunes

  1. "Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus" – 13:02
  2. "The Widow" – 5:50
  3. "L'Via L'Viaquez" – 12:21
  4. "Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" – 13:08
  5. "Cassandra Gemini" – 32:32

[edit] Notes

1 The official spelling for the song title is "Cassandra Gemini," despite the typo "Geminni" printed on all parts of the CD packaging; the MusicBrainz database, the vinyl release of the album, and the band's official site all list the track as "Gemini."
2 Latin for "Easy is the descent into Avernus."
3 Latin for "Go With Me." Also a Vade Mecum is a handbook or something always carried on a person.
4 Latin for "Swan", it is also a constellation.
5 L'Via L'Viaquez was misprinted as "L' Via L' Viaquez" on the back and in the liner notes of Frances the Mute.

[edit] Singles

The Widow was first performed at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles during The Mars Volta's three-night residence closing the tour supporting their debut LP, De-Loused In The Comatorium. At the concert, the song was dedicated to Jeremy Michael Ward, who had died of a drug overdose in May 2003.

It is notably the only short, pop-structured song on Frances The Mute, (although the album-version features a very long and radio-unfriendly electronic outro, taking up half of the track). The edit of "The Widow" cuts the last instrumental part of the regular album track and fades out when the vocals start to be distorted. It is also the only Mars Volta song to chart in the United States.

The song features a brief trumpet part from Flea, after the third chorus. Omar performs a brief solo in the same section. On the vinyl version of the single, "The Widow" is taken from one of the Wiltern performances, and features only acoustic guitar and vocals, with some distortion effects.

The single also contains the 14-minute track Frances the Mute, which was supposed to be the first track on the record of the same name. However, this would have made the CD nearly 90 minutes long, beyond the capacity of a normal CD. The song is supposed to explain the otherwise very obtuse story line of Frances The Mute. It is unusual in that the structure is very compartmentalised, almost in movements. An intro of jangly electronic effects gives way to a loud rock section with vocals. This ends, and is replaced by extremely quiet acoustic guitar and whispered vocals. Then there is a solo. Then there is a distinct instrumental / electronic outro, which features the riff from Sarcophagi that opens and closes the album. Each of these sections has almost nothing in common with any of the previous ones, and only a couple flow into each other like in most Mars Volta songs.

'L'Via L'Viaquez' is the second single from the album Frances The Mute by The Mars Volta. The song in its unedited form is 12:21, but was stripped down to receive radio play.

[edit] Other Notable songs

'Cassandra Gemini' is, at over 32 minutes in length, less a "song" by the usual meaning of the word, and more closer to a progressive rock suite. It features many different musical sections and themes, with heavy use of electronic sound effects and lots of improvisation on the guitar. More than the other tracks on the album, the music is much closer to jazz fusion and experimental music than it is to the post-hardcore of their previous album De-Loused In The Comatorium, and their previous band At The Drive-In. It is entirely composed and arranged by guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, and the lyrics are written by singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala. As with the other four tracks on the album, the lyrics are a character description of a character, in this case Cassandra Gemini, from the whole story behind the album: based on a journal found by late sound engineer Jeremy Ward, it is the story of a man's journey to find his biological parents, with the way being pointed by a collection of people, who are the five characters of the album.

It is considered to be one long track, but due to some problems the band ran into when producing the album (which remarkably, at 77 minutes, contains only five songs), the song is split into 8 seamless tracks to end the C.D. version. This is because, according to Universal Records, five songs would only count as an EP, so the band would only be paid as much as they would for an EP. However, digital versions of the album, such as those sold on iTunes music store, include Cassandra Gemini as one 32:32 minute track.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Contributing artists

  • Michael "Flea" Balzary - Trumpet
  • John Frusciante - First two guitar solos on "L'Via L'Viaquez"
  • Larry Harlow - Piano / Treated Clavinet on "L'Via L'Viaquez" and "Cassandra Gemini"
  • Lenny Castro - Additional track percussion
  • Adrian Terrazas-Gonzales - Tenor Sax / Flute on "Cassandra Gemini"
  • David Campbell - String Arrangements
  • The Coquí of Puerto Rico
  • Violins:
    • Fernano Moreno
    • Erick Hernandez
    • Diego Casillas
    • Ernesto Molina
    • Joel Derouin
    • Roberto Cani
    • Mario De Leon
    • Peter Kent
    • Josefina Vergara
  • Trumpets:
    • Salvador (Chava) Hernandez
    • Wayne Bergeron
    • Suzie Katayama
    • Randy Jones (Also contributed Tuba)
    • Larry Corbett (Also contributed Cello)
    • Roger Manning (Also contributed Piano)
    • Nicholas Lane (Also contributed Trombone)
    • William Reichenbach (Also contributed Bass Trombone)

[edit] Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
2005 European Top 100 Albums -
2005 The Billboard 200 4
2005 Top Canadian Albums 6
2005 Top Internet Albums 4
2005 UK Albums Chart 23
2005 Norway Albums Chart 1
2005 ARIA Album Chart (Australia) 9

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
2005 "The Widow" European Hot 100 Singles -
2005 "The Widow" Mainstream Rock Tracks 26
2005 "The Widow" Modern Rock Tracks 7
2005 "The Widow" The Billboard Hot 100 95
2005 "The Widow" UK Singles Chart 20

[edit] Miscellanea

  • Oddly enough, the titular track, Frances the Mute, is not on the album itself, but was released with the double album vinyl as a free bonus 12-inch single, as well as being a b-side on the single release of "The Widow." Before deciding to remove it from the album, the band members had intended for it to be the first song in the tracklisting[citation needed], as it acts as a prologue to the album's story. Because it contained a part of the story, it was referred to as the 'decoder' [citation needed]. The subsections of the song are:
  1. "Frances the Mute" – 14:36
    1. "In Thirteen Seconds"
    2. "Nineteen Sank, While Six Would Swim"
    3. "Five Would Grow and One Was Dead"
  • The artwork is once again done by Storm Thorgerson, who created the cover for De-Loused.
  • It is highly probable that the cover was inspired by surrealist painter René Magritte, who created a series of paintings featuring a subject whose face was obscured by cloth (The Lovers for example).
  • The album's name was originally going to be Sarcophagus. [3]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

The Mars Volta
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez | Cedric Bixler-Zavala

Isaiah Ikey Owens | Juan Alderete de la Pena | Deantoni Parks | Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez | Adrian Terrazas-Gonzales | Pablo Hinojos-Gonzalez

Former members
Eva Gardner | Jeremy Ward | Jon Theodore
Discography
Albums: De-Loused in the Comatorium | Frances the Mute | Scabdates | A Missing Chromosome | Amputechture
Extended plays: | Tremulant EP | Live EP
Singles: "Inertiatic ESP" | "Televators" | "The Widow" | "L'Via L'Viaquez" | "Viscera Eyes"
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