The Prime Time Sublime Community Orchestra - A life in a day of a microorganism (Corporate Blob Records, 2004)

The phrase "Zappa-esque" may well be the most over-used description in music journalism of the past four decades. Many artists and albums have been named "Zappa-esque" just because of a few odd time signatures or some weird vocal overdubs.

But, watch out, I'll say it: The Prime Time Sublime Community Orchestra sounds very Zappa-esque. Their latest cd takes you from '200 Motels'-era Zappa to his later Synclavier excursions - and back again. Prime Time's Paul Minotto writes instrumental music that is exciting and fun to listen to. One moment you think you're listening to a full blown symphony orchestra, thirty seconds later you're stuck in a crazy cartoon soundtrack. Everything from mambo to 20th century classical music is thrown into the ptsCO's strange brew. The title track, with its narration about microorganisms and their daily activities, is a bit long, but the quality of the rest of the cd certainly makes up for that. This is Weirdomusic with a capital W!
 

More reviews:

 ◦ The Prime Time Sublime Community Orchestra
"The music of The primeTime sublime Community Orchestra (ptsCO), one of the oddest, most intriguing groups of performers to arrive on the music scene in years, cannot be labeled or categorized according to any of the established styles manufactured by the music industry. Combining skilled professional musicians, enthusiastic amateurs and a bank of computers, ptsCO brings an entirely new sensibility to the often pretentious and self-absorbed world of modern music, and the limits of music style are exploded to the point of no return."

 ◦ CD review @ Music & Vision
"The music, with its abrupt stylistic changes and collage-like effects, blends wit and humour with seriousness of purpose."

 ◦ CD review @ Allaboutjazz.com
"Paul Minotto, with his primeTime sublime Community Orchestra, has created a work that blends elements of new music, easy listening, film music, Chinese music, altered television ads and more into a series of collages called A Life in a Day of a Microorganism; the result definitely falls in the latter category, an album that requires the listener’s complete attention."

 ◦ CD review @ Allmusic.com
"This is Avant-Garde music, to be sure, but it's Avant-Garde with a strong and pervasive sense of humor and a clearly defined sense of melody and structure. () is a very strange, brilliant and enjoyable album that should please adventurous listeners with open ears...very open ears."

 

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