BUCKETHEAD

GIANT ROBOT

  1/  Doomride                                   (Buckethead)                  0.57
  2/  Welcome To Bucketheadland                  (Buckethead)                  3.42
  3/  I Come In Peace                            (Buckethead,Mosley)           6.03
  4/  Buckethead's Toy Store                     (Buckethead,Wood)             8.02
  5/  Want Some Slaw?                            (Buckethead)                  4.30
  6/  Warweb                                     (Buckethead)                  3.06
  7/  Aquabot                                    (Buckethead,Wood)             5.56
  8/  Binge and Grab (Instrumental Version)      (Buckethead)                  5.17
  9/  Pure Imagination                           (Bricusse)                    1.47
  10/ Buckethead's Chamber of Horrors            (BH,Wood,Parsons)             4.48
  11/ Onions Unleashed                           (BK,Mosley,Hakopian)          2.20
  12/ Chicken                                    (Buckethead)                  1.06
  13/ I Love My Parents                          (Buckethead)                  4.09
  14/ Buckethead's T.V. Show                     (Buckethead)                  3.18
  15/ Robot Transmission                         (Buckethead)                  2.59
  16/ Pirate's Life For Me                       (Delugg,Amsterdam)            1.01
  17/ Post Office Buddy                          (Buckethead,Pop)              6.40
  18/ Star Wars                                  (Williams)                    1.54
  19/ Last Train To Bucketheadland               (Buckethead,Wood)             5.47

          Recorded at Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn, New York
          Engineered by Oz Fritz
          Assistant: Imad Mansour
          Drum Tech: Artie Smith
          Mixed by Oz Fritz
          Produced by Bill Laswell
          Executive Producers for Higher Octave: Matt Marshall & Dan Selene
          Mastered at Masterdisc by Howie Weinberg
Buckethead: guitar, bass; Bill Laswell (1,5,8,15,17,19): sound effects; Bootsy Collins (3,4,5,7,8): bass, voice; Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey (2,4,8,14,15): drums; Pinchface (3, 18): drums; Bill Mosley (3): voice; Throatrake (4,7,10,19): voice; Iggy Pop (4,17): voice; Bootsy's Mom (5): voice; Ted Parsons (5,10,11,17): drums; Stella Schnabel (6,14): voice; Onions (11): voice; Julian & Vito Schnabel (14): voice; Kristen Gray (17): voice; Sly Dunbar (19): drum loop.

Material Strings arranged and conducted by Karl Berger.

          1994 - Sony (Japan), SRCS 7494 (CD)
          2000 - CyberOctave (USA), COCD 48996 (CD)

REVIEWS :

Considering that prohibitively expensive Japanese copies have been lining the import bins since its original release in 1994, this recent American reissue snuck in without much fanfare. Originally touted as producer/sound conceptualist Bill Laswell's "heavy metal masterpiece", the silly sci-fi narration that weaves though these hard rock instros must have been a mythology that was humorous at the time (ignore 'em). Given the broad, influential scope of Laswell's productions since then (along with guitarist Buckethead's transformation as a serious-minded sessionman), Giant Robot is still a fun listen. With Bootsy Collins' ribald, thumb-poppin' bass, Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey's windshield-crackin' kickdrums, and a slew of walk-ons from Iggy Pop, Sly Dunbar, and the irascible Throatrake, this album crosses kitsch metal with jazzy changes as one of Laswell's more conventional-sounding projects.

Review courtesy of the Eatmag website

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Robots, Music and Chickens, OH MY!

IRONMAN (Ozzy Osborne), GODZILLA (Blue Oyster Cult), EDDIE (Iron Maiden).....BUCKETHEAD - Man raised in a chicken coop, by chickens. His world is just as cartoonish as his character, where he lives through his music in an imaginary land of amusement.

Giant Robot is the third solo album by Buckethead, a real man, not an actual robot, who is known to stay in character much the same way KISS stayed in make-up. Currently he is the new lead guitarist for Guns-n-Roses and well recognized amongst "metalheads." Even though most of his musical projects are in the metal rock genre, because of his fierce guitar playing and his ear for experimentation, he has many credits outside of this genre as well. He has worked with artists Will Ackerman, John Zorn and Bernie Worrell and with other bands including Primus, Praxis, Sacrifist and Day of the Robot. He has been featured on movie soundtracks (Last Action Hero and Mortal Kombat).

The album is an incredible combination of funk, drum and bass, industrial rock a la 80's style guitar leads, and all due to the incredible musicians who went on this musical journey with Buckethead. Bill Laswell is the producer, and the cast of characters includes: Bootsy Collins and Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey from Parliament, Sly Dunbar of Peter Tosh, Black Uhuru and Sly and Robbie fame, Thomas Dolby, Iggy Pop and Bill Mosley, the voice from Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

How often do you hear a remake of "Pure Imagination", a song written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, and the song Gene Wilder sang as "Willy Wonka" in the movie version of the classic children's story written by Roald Dahl? "I Come In Peace" is a spoof on Japanese Godzilla movies, and "Doomride" is a musical rollercoaster that will make you leave your seat from the G-forces created. You can see the humor intended on this album by referring to the song list below. The music is pulsating, fun and definitely a party piece! With this cast of characters, how can you go wrong?

Joanne Kelly (Written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange. Edited by Roberta B. Schwartz)

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Another mostly instrumental stir-fry of techno, funk and metal - like Transmutation without the organ. Buckethead's versatility as composer and guitarist are the focus here: rapid-fire runs, quick changes, eerie soundscapes, a tender stringfest ("I Love My Parents") and even an unironic 80's arena rocker ("Binge And Grab (Instrumental Version)"). Many of the best tracks feature deep funk grooves provided by Bootsy Collins on Space Bass and Jerome Brailey on drums ("Buckethead's Toy Store," with spoken vocals from Iggy Pop). There are also a couple of practical jokes, like shred-guitar versions of the Star Wars theme and the Bricusse/Newley show tune "Pure Imagination." But Buckethead's Achilles' heel - dull metal vamps - ruins some tracks ("Post Office Buddy," "Onions Unleashed"), and he never knows when to quit with allegedly humorous spoken word clips, which are intercut into nearly every track on the disc. Still, all the quick change acts and trap doors make the disc endlessly listenable. Produced by Laswell.

3 stars out of 5

David Bertrand Wilson (courtesy of the Wilson and Alroy's Record Reviews website)