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The group first featured Fier, singer- Guitar ist Arto Lindsay , Saxophonist John Zorn , Bass Guitar ist Bill Laswell and Violinist /guitarist Fred Frith , with guest shots from bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma , guitarist Nicky Skopelitis , percussionist David Moss , turntablist M.E. Miller and others. This line-up produced a self-titled debut album, released on New York's Celluloid Records in 1983. The album is notable for having some of the first recorded Turntable Scratching outside of Rap Music , courtesey of Laswell and M.E. Miller . They were heavily influenced by so-called No Wave music (Lindsay had played in the seminal no wave band DNA ), but their music contained elements of Funk and of the improvisational jazz stylings that would become Zorn's trademark. This line-up lasted only briefly, although its members would guest on subsequent Palominos records. The next album, 1985 's ''Visions Of Excess'', would sound vastly different, leaning towards more folk and country styles, although one song, "The Animal Speaks", featured a more pronounced electric guitar part and vocals by The Sex Pistols' John Lydon . This record was noteworthy as the debut of singer Syd Straw , whose songs & vocals were featured prominently, and who would influence the next record as well. Cream's Jack Bruce , guitarist Richard Thompson , and R.E.M. 's Michael Stipe also appeared. Of the line-up from the first record, only Fier and Arto Lindsey remained. ''Blast Of Silence'', released the following year, had much the same feel as ''Visions Of Excess'' and many of its personnel. It included covers of two songs written by Little Feat 's Lowell George, both sung by Straw. The record also featured prominent guest appearances by Matthew Sweet , Don Dixon , Peter Holsapple and T-Bone Burnett . ''A Dead Horse'', released three years later, carried on in this sound slightly, but some of the songs also showed the ambient, ethereal sound that would dominate the Palomino records of the 1990s. Straw had also moved on, with some of the vocals now handled by Amanda Kramer, formerly of the Dance Music group Information Society. ''Drunk With Passion'' marked the first record not on Celluloid, and a vastly different sound, decidedly more ambient and electronic. This album, more than most, is heavily influenced by its guest appearances, including Hüsker Dü 's Bob Mould (who would go on to form the band Sugar the following year), and the return of Thompson & Stipe, who provide a touchstone track in the song "Alive And Living Now". Nicky Skopelitis would also became more of a cornerstone of the band, contributing the bulk of the album's tracks, along with Fier and Kramer. ''This Is How It Feels'' released by ( Restless Records in 1993, continued much in the ambient sound of ''Drunk With Passion'', but with more dance elements (a companion Remix EP of the song "Prison Of The Rhythm" was released a few months later). It also marked the introduction of Lori Carson , who co-wrote nine tracks with Fier. Bill Laswell also returned to contribute on this record, and his production work on this and on the following record, ''Pure'', would also heavily influence his remix work of the late 90's (such as the CDs ''Emerald Ather'' and ''City Of Light''.). The album featured a trippy re-interpretation of Jackson Browne 's "These Days". ''Pure'', released a year later, is seen by many as the band's most focused work, due much to the strong contributions once again of Carson, Laswell, and Skopelitis. Tracks such as "No Skin" and "Pure" continued the dance/ambient style of the previous album, along with the song "Little Suicides" showing some of the same sparse sound (albeit less electronic) and vocal work that would influence Carson once she would leave the Palominos to re-focus on her solo career (Fier produced her first post-Palominos solo record, 1995's '''Where It Goes''.) ''Pure'' would also cause a minor controversy over the bare female breast on its cover, with some stores only carrying a version of the CD with simple, text-based artwork. Another remix EP (''No Thought, No Breath, No Eyes, No Heart'') accompanied its release. 1994 also saw the release of Fier's own first solo record, ''Dreamspeed''. ''Dead Inside'' (1996) was another turnaround for the Palominos, and their last proper album. This time, the record had a deathly, industrial sound, with the line-up consisting only of Fier, Multi-instrumentalist Knox Chandler (who before joining, was briefly in a band with Lori Carson), Skopelitis and poet Nicole Blackman . Blackman's dark and deliberate lyrics (tellingly, Blackman also previously worked with the industrial German band KMFDM ) made for a challenging record (especially the album's opener, the brutal, spoken-word track, "Victim"), and with a sound decidedly unlike any of the others. In 1997, The Palominos released another EP, named ''Dead Outside'', composed of five remixes of tracks from ''Dead Inside''. They were released as free MP3 s onto the Internet, made available for a limited time through Nicole Blackman's and a fan-created (since decommissioned) band website. It was one of the first instances of a band making songs freely available to its fans. Of several best-of compilations (including two ''A History'' collections on Celluloid, both released in 1992, a German collection released in 1997, and 2002's ''Run Pony Run''), none include any material from ''Drunk With Passion'' onward. The later albums on Restless are growing harder to find, with those on Celluloid and ''Drunk With Passion'' nearly non-existent. ''Dreamspeed'' is also extremely rare, and in its original release is a prized possession of Fier aficionados. (Fier would re-release ''Dreamspeed'' and his other solo record, ''blindlight'' on Zorn's Tradik label in late 2003.) Both Syd Straw and Lori Carson have gone on to moderately successful (but much critically acclaimed) solo careers, with Carson contributing several songs to television shows and movies. A collection of these songs, called ''Stolen Beauty'', was released by Rykodisc in 2003, and a new Carson solo record, ''The Finest Thing'', was released in 2004. Discography |
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