Disco Volante

This article is about the album. For other uses, see Disco Volante (disambiguation).

Disco Volante
Studio album by Mr. Bungle
Released	October 10, 1995
Recorded	1995
Genre	Experimental
Length	68:45
Label	Warner Brothers Records
Producer	Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle chronology
Mr. Bungle (1991) Disco Volante (1995) California (1999)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Piero Scaruffi	[2]
Sputnikmusic	[3]
Stylus Magazine	(very favorable)[4]

Disco Volante is a 1995 album by the band Mr. Bungle. It is by far the most experimental of all their productions, as it picks up inspirations from a wide variety of musical styles, including death metal, techno, '50s space age pop, musique concrète and Italian avant-garde. Mike Patton also uses a great number of vocal effects boxes and samples throughout the album.

Background

The album's title refers to the name of a yacht featured in the James Bond film, Thunderball. Mr. Bungle had previously done a cover version of the film's theme song. The album also contains a hidden track (hidden in a double-groove on the US vinyl release; after "Carry Stress in the Jaw" on the UK vinyl release) after "Carry Stress in the Jaw". This track was originally recorded without bassist Trevor Dunn's input or knowledge; although, shortly before its release, Dunn managed to find it and added a vocal track. Though never explicitly stated, it is believed (by Dunn) that the drums were played by McKinnon, and the bass by Patton.^[5]

The songwriting credits in the album's booklet include the section "Nothing - Words: Lengyel; Music: Heifetz". This is not, as some people believe, the name and credits for the end section of "Merry Go Bye Bye" (the song preceding it in the list), but is a joke at the expense of Lengyel and Heifetz, who had no songwriting credits for material appearing on the album.^[6] "Carry Stress in the Jaw" is subtitled "Sleep: Part II" and "Phlegmatics" is "Sleep: Part III". Part I is "Slowly Growing Deaf" from the self-titled album. All three songs were written by Trevor Dunn, who didn't decide to make "Slowly Growing Deaf" part I until after the other two were written for Disco Volante. The three songs share themes dealing with body parts.

Trey Spruance has stated that the 10 part song/instrumental "The Bends" is inspired by Joe Meek's music, specifically "I Hear a New World". The band played excerpts from "The Bends", all of which have an underwater/aquatic theme in the title or sound, on the following tour to support the album.

This would be Lengyel's final album with the band, leaving shortly after the tour due to "artistic differences". Heifetz would later comment, "I miss him. He added a huge chemical imbalance that helped us on the road. He hates us and rightfully so. The music changed, plain and simple. Very little call for saxes, trombone or flute. He was an original member. I'm not. Makes me feel a bit like a union-buster."

The album was re-released on Vinyl in January 2009 on Plain Recordings. Two versions are available, a Limited Edition (1000) green vinyl with a bonus 7" featuring "Platypus" and two songs by then unknown Secret Chiefs 3 (then called Secret Chiefs Trio), as well as a standard black vinyl without the 7". Disco Volante spawned a number of officially unreleased demos (circulated on peer-to-peer sharing networks), "Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz", "Coldsore" and "Spy". "Coldsore" featured portions later used in "Love on the Event Horizon". "Spy" didn't feature on the release at all. The vocal effect in this song (at 4.48) is very similar to the voice of Alpha 60 in Juc-Luc Godard's science fiction film-noir Alphaville, using a mechanical voice box to create the effect.

Track listing

1. "Everyone I Went to High School With Is Dead" (words/music: Dunn) – 2:45
2. "Chemical Marriage" (music: Spruance) – 3:09
3. "Sleep (Part II): Carry Stress in the Jaw" – 8:59
   1. "Sleep (Part II): Carry Stress in the Jaw" (words/music: Dunn)- 4:42
   2. Untitled^[7] - 4:17
4. "Desert Search for Techno Allah" (words: Spruance, music:Spruance/Patton) – 5:24
5. "Violenza Domestica" (words: Patton/Tirabassi, music: Patton/Spruance) – 5:14
6. "After School Special" (words: McKinnon/Dunn/Patton, music: McKinnon) – 2:47
7. "Sleep (Part III): Phlegmatics" (words/music: Dunn) – 3:16
8. "Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz" (words/music: Spruance) – 6:06
9. "The Bends" (music: Patton/Spruance/McKinnon) - 10:28
   1. "Man Overboard"- :41
   2. "The Drowning Flute"- :52
   3. "Aqua Swing"- 1:56
   4. "Follow the Bubbles"- :14
   5. "Duet for Guitar and Oxygen Tank"- :51
   6. "Nerve Damage"- :38
   7. "Screaming Bends"- :40
   8. "Panic in Blue"- :57
   9. "Love on the Event Horizon"- 1:29
   10. "Re-Entry"- 1:46
10. "Backstrokin'" (music: Patton) – 2:27
11. "Platypus" (words: Dunn, music: Dunn/Spruance) – 5:07
12. "Merry Go Bye Bye"/Untitled – 12:58
    1. "Merry Go Bye Bye" (words/music: Spruance)- 6:22
    2. Untitled^[6] - 5:48

Accolades

Year	Publication	Country	Accolade	Rank
2006	Rock Sound	United Kingdom	"Les 150 Albums De La Génération"	69	[8]
"*" denotes an unordered list.

Personnel

Mr. Bungle

• Danny Heifetz – drums
• Trevor Dunn – bass guitar
• Trey Spruance – pipa, keyboard/organs, guitar, electronics, artwork
• Clinton McKinnon – tenor saxophone, clarinet, keyboard on track 6, drums on track 5
• Mike Patton – vocals, microcassette, organs on tracks 9 and 10, ocarina on track 3
• Theo Lengyel – clarinet, flute, alto saxophone, trombone, zills

Additional personnel

• Mr. Bungle – producer, art layout and design
• Billy Anderson – engineer, mixing, pre-mastering
• Mike Johnson – assistant engineer, pre-mastering^[9]
• Kevin Donlon – additional assistant engineer^[9]
• Chris Roberts – additional assistant engineer^[9]
• Mike Bogus – additional assistant engineer
• David Ogilvy – additional assistant engineer^[9]
• Adam Munoz – additional assistant engineer
• Trevor Ward – additional assistant engineer
• Bernie Grundman – mastering
• Athur Hertz – photography (front cover)
• Joseph A. Thompson – photography (outer tray)
• Davis Meltzer – photography (booklet backpage)
• Patton's friend – artwork ("Violenza Domestica")
• Bettman – artwork ("Techno Allah")
• Margaret Murray – art layout and design
• Gregg Turkington – art layout and design
• William Winant – cymbals on track 2, bongos on track 3, tabla, kanjira, sistrums on track 4, Jews harp, percussion on track 5, bongos, xylophone, glockenspiel on track 8
• Graham Connah – piano on tracks 5, 9, 11
• Lisandro Adrover – bandoneón on track 5

Notes

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ Piero Scaruffi review
3. ^ Sputnikmusic review
4. ^ Stylus Magazine review
5. ^ Bungle Fever FAQ
6. ^ ^{a b} The untitled improvised section after "Merry Go Bye Bye" is not titled "Nothing". "Nothing" is listed as a track on the album cover & accredited to Theo Lengyel and Danny Heifetz in reference to the fact that neither of them wrote any of the songs on Disco Volante. The improvisation after "Merry Go Bye Bye" has no known official title. Bungle Fever FAQ
7. ^ This song is often titled "The Secret Song" (the working title of the song) or "Spy" (the title that appears on various concert setlists). Credits: words: Dunn, music: Uncredited (but assumed to be Patton/McKinnon/Spruance). Bungle Fever FAQ
8. ^ "Rock Sound - Les 150 Albums De La Génération". Rock Sound. http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=3172289350&frmid=0&msgid=660921. Retrieved 2010-01-18. 
9. ^ ^{a b c d} album booklet, first page

External links

• Disco Volante at Last.fm