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Philosophy of the World [Import]

The Shaggs | Format: Audio CD
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Audio CD (23 Feb 1999)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Format: Import
  • Label: RCA
  • ASIN: B00000I0QQ
  • Other Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 229,680 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Samples
Song Title Time Price
Listen  1. Philosophy of The World 3:00£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  2. That Little Sports Car 2:06£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  3. Who Are Parents 2:56£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  4. My Pal Foot Foot 2:30£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  5. My Companion 2:03£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  6. I'm So Happy When You're Near 2:12£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  7. Things I Wonder 1:47£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  8. Sweet Thing 2:56£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  9. It's Halloween 2:21£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen10. Why Do I Feel? 3:52£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen11. What Should I Do? 2:16£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen12. We Have A Savior 3:06£0.89  Buy MP3 

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk

When listening to the Shaggs (the Wiggin sisters--Dorothy on lead guitar and vocals, Betty on rhythm guitar and vocals, Helen on drums), one needs to jettison conventional notions of song structure, what is "in tune" or not, even what constitutes suitable subject matter for a pop song ("My Pal Foot Foot," "Who Are Parents?"). Originally issued on a small, dodgy label in 1969, the guileless sounds of Philosophy cast a long shadow nonetheless; the group was one of Frank Zappa's favorites and their music inspired rock primitivists Beat Happening as well as sublime archivists NRBQ and Yo La Tengo. On Philosophy, the teenaged sisters' delirious, playfully constructed music has everything you least expect: loopy polyrhythms that follow no external law, off-kilter singing conducted in unison that sounds like the hit parade broadcast from Jupiter, and bizarre, elementary-school guitar playing. Best enjoyed in small doses, this enchanting, accidental music approximates the highly personal charms of so-called "outsider" visual art. To paraphrase a saccharine song of yore, the Shaggs' music is very beautiful--in its own way. --Mike McGonigal

Customer Reviews

3.2 out of 5 stars
8 reviews
3.2 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Shaggs are truly unforgettable 26 Feb 2003
By Rob Monster
Format:Audio CD
This album has passed into legend and now it's widely available on CD after it's re-release in the mid 90's. Most people know the story of the Shaggs - their Father practically forced the girls to form a band despite a total lack of musical ability. They recorded this album in the 1960's despite protests of the studio engineer that they weren't ready to record. Most copies disappeared and were impossible to find until the reissue. Frank Zappa liked them. This is the original first album on CD and it is the best release out of all to buy. Their later albums an compilations include more polished songs which spoil a lot of the appeal.

What does Philosophy of the World sound like? It sounds bad. Really Really dreadfully bad. The guitars are always out of tune and follow little discernable pattern, the vocals are deadpan in grating strong New England American accents, and the drummer doesn't seem to manage to drum in time once on the whole album. At first it sounds like a complete mess of atonal droning sounds. You have to forget about standard convention when you listen to this album. There are songs about the girl's parents and their cat called Foot Foot. My sister is still convinced that the album is a hoax and the girls on the cover are really men in drag.

The album is a big grower, the melodies are hummable and the lyrics are uplifting and full of hope. The Shaggs often wrote sad songs but they never give up hope. The whole album is full of naive charm and it makes me feel happy to listen to it. Every song has the purity of emotion and simple feeling behind it. Whether you like or hate this album it's well worth listening to because it really is truly unforgettable.

Some people get into this album because they decide that it is a radical new musical experimentation in the mould of microtonal music or free jazz such as Ornette Coleman. I disagree, they are simply a band who REALLY can't play. But the Shaggs are real and honest and they offer more passion and soul than the manufactured and overproduced music made today. This childish & shambollic incompetence has become more popular over the years with bands like Half Japanese or Beat Happening doing similar things. This album could be said to have invented lo fi indie music many years ago.

Whatever you think, listen to this album. It's totally unique and no on else will ever sound like the Shaggs, or make an album like Philosophy of the World. This is a beautiful uplifting experience and it's an album to be treasured.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Genuine Girl Group! 26 May 2009
By Ms. Felicia Davis-burden VINE™ VOICE
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Where do I start in trying to describe this album? The short and easy version is (probably) that this is one of the funniest, most original and oddly enjoyable albums I've ever heard. A girl-group born of pure DNA, not the product of a svengali producer or TV show.

There was nothing pretentious about the Wiggin sisters, only their father's ambition! Dorothy (lead guitar, vocals) wrote all of the lyrics: The maxim 'Write about what you know' has never seemed so accurate, for that is exactly what we have here. Songs about love and companionship (pets, radios, parents), surburban sociology, scary drivers in sports cars, a little bit of religion (but not enough to annoy). See, I'm being pretentious about the Shaggs!

There is a glorious Garage-Rock rawness about 'Philosophy...'; in fact its primitive sound suggests that the sisters were recorded in a garage, and had become high on whatever fumes festered there! I think that in Helen Wiggin (drums) we hear the lost link between Moe Tucker and Sandy West of the Runaways. Here is the unfettered merging of Moe's mallet-work and Sandy's almost uncontrolled compulsion. Helen's drumming is joyfully gung-ho, even if she seems at least a planet removed from her sisters' guitars and voices!

The Wiggin sisters are lost Godmothers of Punk. Their father's svengali ambition was misplaced to a massive degree, but thank god he shoved instruments in his unwitting daughters' hands and dragged them into a studio to record their efforts 'while they're hot'!

This album is uniquely hilarious for all the wrong reasons, but I love the girls for their enthusiasm to make music that they liked. If you don't like it yourself, why should anyone else out there think anything of it? I love it dearly, forty years after the event. Well pummelled, girls!
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Where is Foot Foot? 6 Sep 2004
By James N. R. Goad
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you find yourself being bored with pop, annoyed by Nu-Metal, sick of whiney Indie, hate Dance & wonder what is happening with modern music in general, buy this. The Shaggs deliver a slice of fresh sounding, late 1960s, innocent Teen-Angst & a very alternative approach to music.
On first listen, they just seem to be making a disorganized racket but their inner logic & weird melodies soon come shining through the chaos (just don't expect musical virtuosity). This album is a rare gem to be treasured by anyone with an open mind or ataste for avant garde.
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