I’m heading to Bonnaroo in a few weeks. They finally put the artist schedules up today, so I can start fretting over who I’ll have to miss. (Why must they put Girl Talk opposite The Flaming Lips?)
Friday night features an unopposed set by Tool, a band I honestly couldn’t name a single track by. My only knowledge of them comes from a few mega-fans of theirs I’ve been acquainted with who were, to be honest, really annoying, but I’ve always meant to check the band itself out. Now seems like the perfect time.
What albums, and more specifically, what tracks should I check out?
I’m far from a Tool expert, but in my younger days I would go play Magic the Gathering with two sibling friends of mine. The soundtrack to our playing was usually either Tori Amos, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Nirvana, or Tool.
I’ve got the album Undertow, which is pretty old at this point, but is very good. I full admit that at least part of my opinion of it has to do with nostalgia.
Lateralus and Aenima are their two most famous albums, and ones you’re most likely to recognize songs from. I’d suggest you check out Schism and Lateralus from the former and Stinkfist and Eulogy from the latter. Hush, Cold and Ugly, and Prison Sex are some other songs I’d suggest.
Funny, I’m listening to Tool now. See, I was never realy into them, never got the drift ect. then a friend made me listen to schism. It is,by far, one of the best songs I’ve heard.
Aslo, I recommend the entire Aenima album. Of course, when I buy a cd for one song, I usually end up liking all the tracks.
Maybe I can e-mail you more details, if thats not too prying.
Tool is some of the most musically complex stuff in the mainstream today. People often call them the modern day Pink Floyd for that reason. Ir is this musical complexity mixed with raw emotion that people get so passionate about them. I love Tool but I prefer A Perfect Circle.
Didn’t you mention a few months ago that Mastodon is too proggy for your tastes? If so, I don’t think you’re going to like Tool at all. Nevertheless, here’s my rundown of their releases:[ul][li]Opiate: Good stuff, early 90s alt-metal. I doubt you’ll hear much from this one.[/li][li]Undertow: Probably Tool’s best album if you stop it after track 9. You probably heard “Sober” at some point, and it’s a great song. My other favorites are “Swamp Song” and “Flood”.[/li][li]Ænima: IIRC, five of the tracks from this album got radio play. You probably heard “Ænema”, “Stinkfist” or “H”. It’s an incredible album, but you definitely get the sense that they were just trying to be weird at some points.[/li][li]Lateralus: If you don’t like prog, you won’t like this. I think “Schism” was the only track that got radio play.[/li]10,000 Days: Probably Tool’s second best album. “Vicarious” got some radio play, and it’s a good song.[/ul]
I’m not sure “proggy” is what I don’t like about Mastodon, but I know that most bands described that way tend not to grab me (The Mars Volta, for instance).
I think it’s safe to say that Tool is not up my alley; if they were, I would have made the effort to get familiar with them before now. But I’m all about expanding my musical horizons, and since I’ll be seeing them in a few weeks, I might as well give them a shot.
(And the fact that something was played on the radio doesn’t mean I heard it. Med school + residency = my head way up my ass for seven years.)
Yay TOOL! After several years of trying, I finally got tickets to see Tool in Hamilton of all places (we moved away from Hamilton just 10 months ago). I am so very freaking excited, I just had to share!
I think that climax bit towards the end of Stinkfist is incredible and that nothing else they have done rates better than very good. Which is no insult.
They have a habit of playing lots of harmonys & strange time signatures / changes, long vampy intros, that sort of thing. Vicarious is a good recent example. Lyrics tend toward “controversial”. I think Maynard said Tool represents his angry masculine side while A Perfect Circle is his happy femine side, or something to that effect.
All in all, if you have the chance to see them live, it sounds like a good deal. though, I heard Tool fans are a little…intense.
I’ve only recently gotten into TOOL myself, mainly because I don’t like their hardcore fans. I finally said “fuck it. I like the music” and have seen them twice in the past nine months. They are absolutely phenomenal live; the visuals alone are almost worth the ticket price.
I like AEnima best personally, but as ultrafilter said, it is a bit weird at points, but the non weird songs are phenomenal. Hooker With a Penis is great, and has nothing to do with men being paid for sex.
So I loaded Lateralus and AEnima on the mp3 player last night and browsed through them while I was on the elliptical.
Some thoughts:
–“Schism” is a pretty damn incredible song. Of the lot, it’s the one that really grabbed me.
–I don’t find them that Cookie Monsterish at all. I’ve heard a lot worse, anyway.
–On the whole, I find them overwhelming. I like individual pieces, but I feel like it would take a lot of effort to dig through the individual pieces enough to really understand where it’s going. And I don’t like the pieces that much.
What is it about their live shows that make them so legendary? Will whatever that magic is get lost in the mega-fest atmosphere of Bonnaroo?
AEnema is more easily appreciated after having heard Undertow. If I had to recommend two albums to someone that had never heard Tool before, I would say Undertow and AEnema in that order.
IMO their sense of subtlety has decreased through the years. Tool is also not a band that should be listened to while doing something else, it is best appreciated when taken in under full attention. I envy you and your Bonaroo tickets.
I’m also making the trip to Bonnaroo, but i’m going just to see Tool (They sold out here too fast).
I’d give 10,000 Days a listen after you finish the other two. It is probally their most accessible album.
Are you kidding? It has like barely 5 listenable songs on it with like 20 minutes in the middle of Maynard moaning about his mother. Aenima and Undertow are way more accessible, and Aenima may be one of the best albums ever, which virtually every song on it being awesome in its own way (and having some of the best of their offbeat bits, like the answering machine message or Satan’s Balls)
Tool is a great band. Their live show is reknowned because they are damn sweet musicians (the guitar is the only thing not particularly prog or thrash metally: but its more about the great licks and that TONE), and Maynard is sort of crazy (he did one tour with a sort of very convincingly realistic naked woman suit on, and another painted half purple half green or something). Their drummer is particularly impressive.
