Emotive [Explicit]

Rating

Album: Emotive [Explicit]
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Annihilation	More Info...	0:02
2)	Imagine	More Info...	0:04
3)	Peace Love and Understanding	More Info...	0:05
4)	What's Going On	More Info...	0:05
5)	Passive	More Info...	0:04
6)	Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie	More Info...	0:02
7)	People Are People	More Info...	0:03
8)	Freedom of Choice	More Info...	0:03
9)	Let's Have a War	More Info...	0:03
10)	Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums	More Info...	0:05
11)	When the Levee Breaks	More Info...	0:06
12)	Fiddle and the Drum	More Info...	0:03

Album: Emotive [Explicit]
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Annihilation	More Info...	0:02
2)	Imagine	More Info...	0:04
3)	Peace Love and Understanding	More Info...	0:05
4)	What's Going On	More Info...	0:05
5)	Passive	More Info...	0:04
6)	Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie	More Info...	0:02
7)	People Are People	More Info...	0:03
8)	Freedom of Choice	More Info...	0:03
9)	Let's Have a War	More Info...	0:03
10)	Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums	More Info...	0:05
11)	When the Levee Breaks	More Info...	0:06
12)	Fiddle and the Drum	More Info...	0:03

Performer Notes

A Perfect Circle (Tool): Danny Lohner, Jeordie White (bass guitar); Josh Freese (drums); James Iha, Maynard James Keenan, Paz Lenchantin, Billy Howerdel .
Personnel: Billy Howerdel (vocals, guitar, piano, harmonium, keyboards, programming); Danny Lohner (vocals, guitar, keyboards, programming); Maynard James Keenan (vocals, piano); James Iha (guitar, keyboards, programming); Paz Lenchantin (strings, piano); Jason Freese (tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Joshua Eustis (Fender Rhodes piano, drums); Charles Clouser (programming).
Audio Mixers: Billy Howerdel ; Danny Lohner; Andy Wallace; Joshua Eustis.
Photographers: Steven R. Gilmore; John Giustina.
Arrangers: Maynard James Keenan; Danny Lohner.
For EMOTIVE, their third full-length album, A Perfect Circle offers up a covers-heavy collection that includes a number of protest songs. What's most striking about this set is the way in which the group reworks pop classics. In the hands of frontman Maynard James Keenan and company, John Lennon's "Imagine" becomes a foreboding lament, and Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" is transformed into an oddly soothing, nearly ambient song. Other standout tracks include a lullaby-like, electronics-laced take on Depeche Mode's "People Are People" and a gently melodic version of "When the Levee Breaks" (almost totally unrecognizable from Led Zeppelin's revered rendition). EMOTIVE also presents two APC originals--the frustration-venting "Passive" and the scathing "Counting Bodies like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums." Although a few tracks feature amped-up arrangements, it's remarkable how many of these tunes are subdued and understated, further backing up A Perfect Circle's status as a dynamic, unpredictable band.

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (p.107) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[They] revisit classic protest hits, jacking up the terror by throwing out iconic arrangements and performing heretical surgery on the melodies."

Spin (p.117) - "[T]he band seems dedicated to big challenges....A Perfect Circle prove that they've got not only good taste, but real bite, too." - Grade: B+

Entertainment Weekly (p.80) - "Sweetly morbid dreams of a better world abound on this politically motivated release..." - Grade: B+

Uncut (p.138) - 4 stars out of 5 -"Unexpectedly impressive, like a 2004 equivalent of Randy California's similarly motivated masterpiece, SPIRIT OF '76."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.102) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[A]pplying minimalist melodies and hypnotic rhythms to a repertoire that seems collectively absurd, but is woven together by the band's singular sonic worldview."