Any quick reviews of the Parachute Years recording? It has been haunting my at the record store and would like to know about the "Fondle Factor" ((you know .. the liner notes)) what type of ensambles are on it .... etc..

I was waiting for an expert to reply to this but so far nothing, so very briefly (although I don't have it with me for reference). I have this box which gathers a lot (but I believe not all) the recordings of the early games pieces. The musicians include all Zorn's early colleagues Eugene Chadbourne, Henry Kaiser, Wayne Horvitz et al (See Patrice's Discography for details.) The Set contains two leaflets: one of quotes, a few notes, reproduced graphics (that are really too small to see any detail) and some comments from Zorn; the other has session photographs. I particularly enjoy Zorn's hymn to a single cello note heard at one point. You will have to listen carefully to follow his drift! It has been said many times before that the games pieces really need to be seen as well as heard. Personally, I think this applies even more to some of the early stuff than it does to Cobra or, in particular, Xu Feng that I thinks works well on disc. Having said that I do enjoy the music - Lacrosse had real moments. If you like Cobra you will probably like Parachute Years but it is raw music captured at a very experimental time. If you prefer Electric Masada wait for the imminent Miles Davis - Complete Jack Johnson, you'll listen to it a lot more. Richard Gardner