A Lazarus Taxon [CD+DVD, Box set, Limited Edition]

The generous box set `A Lazarus Taxon' is wonderful stuff; similar to the Low box-set a few years ago that brought together 3cds with a DVD. I'd say it's a box-set that fans will have to own, and a perfect introduction to the band. Albums like `Tortoise', `Standards', `TNT' and `Millions Now Living Will Never Die' have been amongst the greatest records released in the last decade or so, taking in a myriad of music styles along the way: jazz, electronica, Krautrock, math rock, post-rock, Morricone-style soundtrack, even something that might be called drum'n'bass...

The first two discs are take in 25 tracks from their brilliant career, many of which are from hard to find 7"s and other arcane origins. Disc One opens with `Gamera', a reworked version of `His Second Story Island' from their debut, in one song it pretty much captures what the band are about - like `djed' on `Millions Now Living...' it seems a definitive moment. There's much reworking here - `Source of Uncertainty' an alternate mix of `Why We Fight', an alternate take of `Sexual for Elizabeth', and another take of `Why We Fight' on the second disc.

There are many reinterpretations of Tortoise here: Autechre remix `To Day Retrieval', as Tortoise remix Yo La Tengo's fantastic `Autumn Sweater' (though the Kevin Shields remix is the best one!), there's a re-version (`Goriri') of `Gamera', and the whole of the third disc is subtitled `Rhythms, Resolutions & Clusters' (originally issued on Thrill Jockey in 1994) taking in remixes of earlier tracks. The highlights are Jim O'Rourke's take on `His Second Story Island' (`Initial Gesture Protraction'), Steve Albini's take on `Ry Cooder' (`The Match Incident'), and Mike Watt's remix of `Cornpone Brunch.'

There are other anomalies previously hard to find and have on cd - `Blue Station' (a bonus track from the Japanese version of `Standards'), `Peering' (from the 2001 tour single), `Vaus' (a split-single w/Stereolab - Tortoise's John McEntire having worked on many of their great albums), `A Grape Dope' (a bonus track for `Millions...'), and `Deltitnu' (bonus track on `It's All Around You' in Japan). Two other notable features are `Didjeridoo', which was recorded for a Duke Ellington tribute album in 1999, and `As You Said', recorded (& almost rejected) for a Joy Division tribute album `A Means to An End.' Their version of `As You Said' is probably the best Joy Division cover version, though I know with Paul Young and New Order and U2 and The Cure murdering `Love Will Tear Us Apart' a Joy Division cover is a very scary thing (Swans' `Love Will Tear Us Apart', Grace Jones' `She's Lost Control', Nouvelle Vague's `Love Will Tear Us Apart', that alt-country act who did `Day of the Lords', Moby's `New Dawn Fades' & Nine Inch Nails' `Dead Souls' are better examples). `As You Said' was quite an obscure JD-track, a tribute to Kraftwerk originally on a flex-single with `Komakino' and `Incubation' - Tortoise's version sounds like it and probably sounds even better. The attentive listener will hear bits of other JD-songs, various `melodies and bass lines' appearing, almost musique-concrete/sampling - JD-fans should love it and the part where the opening to `These Days' appears sounds great separated from the original track. `As You Said' is probably one of the most original cover versions and a great tribute...

The DVD is probably one more for the fans, taking in various live appearances - track 8 showcases most of `Millions...' live in Toronto in 1996 (Tortoise recently played the whole of that album for the Don't Look Back concerts in London) and there are fine versions of songs like `Glass Museum', `Monica' and `Seneca.' Well worth a look, and a bonus to the three cds of great music...

`A Lazarus Taxon' is definitely the best box-set released in 2006, I can't think of a more engaging and eclectic collection - if you like head music, this is as good as it gets. Screaming good value and one you will definitely return to...

First of all, this is probably not the best place to begin if you're looking for an introduction to Tortoise -- if you start with this, you'll like as not get a bit hopelessly confused. If you're new to the band, I would suggest starting with their excellent second and third albums (Millions Now Living Will Never Die, from 1996; and TNT, from 1998), and then if you like what you hear this would be a fine place to dive into after that.

That caveat aside, though, I have to say this is an absolute dream of a box set, a gloriously sprawling and chaotic 3 CD (+ 1 DVD) collection of remixes and obscurities from the darker corners of Tortoise's back catalogue. 'Obscure', in this instance, definitely doesn't mean 'second rate'. Most of the music on here is, in my view, at least as good as the better-known material from their albums.

You could view the whole enterprise, as the liner notes suggest, as a kind of celebration of remix culture -- of the spirit of impermanence and improvisation that drives the music of this band. Thus, for example, a track called 'Goriri' is an obscure remix of the excellent 'Gamera' (also included), which was itself a drastically reworked version of a track from their first album. We find a 1995 track called 'Why We Fight', and then later on the same disc we find the same material adapted and reworked as part of a long multi-part composition called 'Cliff Dweller's Society'. We find not one but two remixes of 'Ten Day Interval', both by the British electronica specialists Autechre. They have drawn out different aspects of the track in each version, and the end result is what basically sounds like two different pieces.

It would be a bit misleading perhaps to say this collection covers the band's entire career. You can't help noticing from the liner notes that, in fact, the overwhelming bulk of this material spans a three or four year period between 1995-98; that is, roughly, the time between the making of their second and third albums. This, undoubtedly, was when the band were at their best; the relative paucity of more recent material here (only half a dozen or so tracks overall from 2001 onwards) maybe reflects the slightly disappointing quality of the album material that Tortoise have released in more recent years.

The first two CDs form the real meat of the collection. CD 3 is a reissue of Rhythms, Resolutions & Clusters, a long-deleted album of remixed versions of tracks from Tortoise's first album. There is also an extra track that wasn't completed in time for inclusion on the original 1995 release. The DVD, for its part, is a little disappointing. It contains some (mostly poor quality) live footage, and also some not particularly inspiring promotional videos for a few of the songs. I would say it's mainly for die-hard fans.

Never mind, though. By the time I got to the DVD I had already long decided that I should give this five stars. It deserves that for its generosity and consistently high quality. It's the kind of box set that, every time you dig into it, tends to throw up something interesting that you hadn't really noticed before. A nice stylish job on the packaging too. Highly recommended.

Sixteen years of slow moving all emcompassing and on occasion slightly bewildering chicago..uhh..stuff, yeah thats the best genre for them. So, here we are with the long threatened rareties collection spanning three CDs and one DVD.

The DVD is probably the main draw here for some people and, like the wonderful Low boxset, it contains a selection of videos, live performances and tv spots. Most of the live bits are in grainey black and white which is slightly clichéd and annoying but the fact that these are videos from when Mr David Pajo was in the band makes it all okay. One thing is very noticable from these videos though, the band never seem to fully lock together and get intense as it were. I don't know, its very tight musicianship and its very good music, but you know when you want it to just engage into another gear and really implode? It doesn't happen... still, maybe that is the whole point of Tortoise.

For the 3 CDs of music, Tortoise have included a very wide range of sounds and pieces and bits and bobs from their past rareties, all the tracks here have been released previously in some form or other, be it in a different version or mix. The main one here though is probably disc 3 which is made up of the long out of print 1994 remix album Rhythms, Resolutions & Clusters. In all honesty though I again have found myself wanting... more from each of the songs on here... a remix album normally comes across as a radical difference to the original (be it good or bad). And this is certainly different to the debut Tortoise album, but something is missing. I don't know, again this CD fails to grab you anywhere. But maybe that's just me again, listening to it at the wrong time at the wrong place.

The final 2 CDs are a lot better, each one contain's tracks from all period's, from the skittering more abrasive sound of Peering to the more mellow earlier dub sound of Gamera... there is a lot of material here. At times it becomes a bit of a blur. Tortoise's sound has always evolved and bounced about from and this set is not really great for listening to in one sitting. But then single tracks are not the best either. But then when is the right time to listen to Tortoise. They sit awkwardly in the music world between the lines of too many genres to name, just like the wonderfully bleak artwork that this set is held in. One for the collectors/fans definatly...