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Audio by Blue Man GroupBlue Man Group: Matt Goldman (cimbalom, upside-down bass, air poles, low-octave PVC, big drum, drumbone, backpack PVC, shaker gong, Utne...
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Blue Man Group: Matt Goldman (cimbalom, upside-down bass, air poles, low-octave PVC, big drum, drumbone, backpack PVC, shaker gong, Utne drum, ribbon crasher, dumpster); Phil Stanton (cimbalom, air poles, drumbone, tubulum, Utne drum, mid-octave PVC, extenstion cord bull roarer, ribbon crasher, dumpster, Phil drum, backpack tubulum, timpani, drum wall); Chris Wink (cimbalom, tubulum, high-octave PVC, air poles, piano smasher, cuica, doppler toms, drum wall, drumulum, drumbone, dumpster, backpack tubulum, Utne shakers). Additional personnel: Christian Dyas (6- & 12-string guitars, zither, bass, electric dog toy); Byron Estep, John Kimbrough (guitar); Elvis Lederer (zither, pressaphonic); Jens Fischer, Bradford Reed, David Corter (zither); Larry Heinemann (cuica & baritone guitars, bass, Chapman Stick); Jamie Edwards (air poles); Todd Perlmutter (drums, percussion, drum wall, toy drum, phil drum); Ian Pai (drums, percussion, drum wall, aronophonic, Guellium grill, phil drum); Jeff Quay (drums, drum wall); ...
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14 Reviews from Shopping.com
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PVC and a Really Big Drum
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Pros: The music hits you in the gut and doesn't let go, yet it's mellow enough to settle into the background if you want it to.
Cons: Nothing compares to a live performance. Ever.
We know how much "Blue Man Group: Tubes" rocks. The first time I went to see the show (actually, the only time I went to see the show) I sat in the theatre, electrified for the entire performance. The noise! The lights! The guys painted blue! The band, glowing in neon splendor! But most of all, the music. No words (but for the "You're Late!" operatic chastising of the stragglers into the theatre), but the performance was engaging and made me leave the theatre breathless for the energy that it took out of me, and put into me.
Imagine then the feeling I got when I stumbled across this album in the used record store. What? Blue Man Group has an album? Well, the show was pretty good. I'll buy it. Oh the delight I when I read that this was NOT in fact a "cast recording" but was in fact an entity unto itself. The Blue Man team procured space in a warehouse, they built a studio, they built some enormous instruments out of big sticks and PVC piping ("Tubes," anyone?) and lots of metal. This album would be worth it alone for the diagrams of these contraptions contained in the packaging. Well, maybe not. I mean close.
But the music.
This album has become the soundtrack to my life. Music to work by. Energizing, but not distracting. The sounds you can only get by smacking a large piece of tubing with a rubber paddle. Shivers down my spine. And recorded in surround sound. Not that I've had the opportunity to explore this aspect of the album given my current audio situation, but they claim to have captured the sounds of the wall of drums (yes, 7 kits total) fairly accurately.
Remember the show? Remember the feeling you had when the music started up? When they started banging on those drums covered in paint? Remember the feeling you got when you watched them silhouetted, the paint in the air, timed to the music and the impact of their drumsticks?
Remember all of that?
You'll get that rush again, plus much more.
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