Word slipped out a couple weeks ago that Beck had enlisted Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore along with Chicago post-rock combo Tortoise for his next Record Club production. The only question left unanswered was: What classic album would this ad-hoc group cover front-to-back?
Well, with INXS’ Kick now put to bed, we have that answer: Live at the Acropolis, the 1994 bestseller and PBS fundrasing juggernaut by that mustachioed New Age hunk, Yanni. Tonight, Beck posted “Santorini,” the first of the album’s 11 tracks, and it’s a bit more of a full-on free-jazz freakout, with Moore improvising vocals over the previously instrumental track. (For comparison, check out the original version below.)
According to Beck’s site, “To flesh out and capture the complex arrangements (of Live at the Acropolis), several studio musician heavyweights were brought in to read a heavily doctored score with interpolations of everything to Stravinsky to Shania Twain (look for others).” On this first track, Moore and Beck are credited with providing “auxiliary music and noise.” Tortoise will “show up later on a few other tracks,” all of which was recorded in one day — June 6 — at Sunset Sound Studios.
Watch for the rest of the tracks to be posted here once a week for the next 10 weeks.
See Yanni’s original ‘Santorini’ from ‘Live at the Acropolis’ after the jump…
Lindo