Frances the Mute is the second studio
album by
progressive rock band The Mars
Volta released in the US on
March 1,
2005. The album's lyrics often jump from
Spanish to
English. Though not as commercially
successful as
De-loused
in the Comatorium, it is widely regarded as their
magnum opus which displays a deep
jazz influence while infusing
Latin flavor into many songs while utilising
many of the
Dub,
Ambient and
Electronica influences and techniques
experimented with in
De Facto and
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's solo project in order to create one cohesive
composition divided into many tracks. Originally to be titled
Sarcophagus,
Frances the Mute sold 123,000 copies
in its opening week and has sold 465,000 copies as of September
2006. The album made multiple "Best of" lists at the end of
2005.
History
Jeremy Ward, audio artist for
The Mars Volta until his death, had previously worked as a
repo man. One day, Ward discovered a diary in
the backseat of a car he was repossessing, and began to note the
similarities between his life and that of the author — most
notably, that they had both been adopted. The diary told of the
author's search for his biological parents, with the way being
pointed by a collection of people, their names being the basis for
each named track of
Frances the Mute. Ward was in the
process of completing it at the time of his death.
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez wrote all
the music for
Frances The Mute, some of which was inspired
by jams performed by the group on tour for
De-Loused In The
Comatorium, such as a jam frequently used in "Drunkship Of
Lanterns" that evolved into the breakdown in "Cygnus....Vismund
Cygnus." Rodriguez-Lopez also arranged and produced the recording
sessions himself.
In December 2004, a full copy of
Frances the Mute was
leaked to the
Internet from the
vinyl version. The
rip was of poor quality. Encoded as a 96
kbit/s MP3, other versions were
reencoded to 192 kbit/s
WMA from
the source mp3, resulting in even worse audio quality.
Gold Standard Laboratories issued
a statement decrying the Internet release for its subpar
sound quality, and suggesting that fans should
respect the band's request not to share the leaked music.
The first single, "The Widow", was released in early 2005 and the
album
Frances the Mute was released on midnight, March 1,
2005, and sold over 100,000 copies within the first week of
release, and debuted at number four on the
Billboard Album
Charts.
The title track, "Frances the Mute", which is
purportedly meant to be track one on the album and, according to
the band, "decodes" the album's story, was not included in the
album, and was released on March 14, 2005, in the United Kingdom
. This release was a three set limited edition,
containing a single with a live version of "The Widow", played at
The
Wiltern
in Los Angeles on June 13, and the unreleased title
song "Frances the Mute." Also in the collection is a DVD that includes
clips from their performance at the Electric Ballroom
in London
on July 9,
2003, "The Widow" music video, and the "Televators" music
video. Finally, the last item was a 12" single pressed on
marble green vinyl including "Frances The Mute" and a live version
of "The Widow", released by Gold Standard Labs. Only approximately
10,000 were pressed.
A second single from the album, "
L'Via
L'Viaquez" was released in June 2005. Included on this single
there was another unreleased song entitled "The Bible and the
Breathalyzer".
Frances The Mute debuted at No. 4 on The Billboard 200 and
has sold nearly 465,000 copies in the United States, according to
Nielsen SoundScan. The album was the band's career best at No. 4
until their fourth album
The Bedlam in Goliath came out
almost 3 years later on the Billboard 200 at No. 3.
In 2008, the edited version of "L'Via L'Viaquez" was featured on
the video game
Guitar Hero:
World Tour.
Sound
Frances the Mute is comparable to The Mars Volta's 2003
release
De-Loused in the
Comatorium, with its cryptic, verbose lyrics, and highly
layered
instrumentals, although the
progressive rock influence is
stronger on
Frances the Mute than it was on
De-Loused
in the Comatorium. The band's musical influences are more
prominent; the guitar solo on "The Widow" seems inspired by classic
rock, and much of the album has a
psychedelic feel to it. Perhaps because of
inspiration from such
Pink Floyd albums
as
Meddle, ambient noise plays a
larger role on
Frances the Mute than it does on
De-Loused in the
Comatorium. "Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore",
for example, begins with 4 minutes of
coquí frogs singing while a thick soundscape is
slowly built from Cedric Bixler-Zavala's voice and
synthesizers.
Track listing
The finalized track listing had five tracks and was intended to be
released as such on all formats; the vinyl version and online
retailer copies (such as those from the
iTunes Store) can be found with this track
listing. Because of disputes with
Universal Records, "Cassandra Gemini"
(listed as "Cassandra Geminni" on most versions of the album)
5 was arbitrarily split into eight
tracks on the CD version, taking up tracks 5 through 12, since the
band would otherwise only be paid an
EP's wages for a 5 track album. The splits in
the eight CD tracks (5 through 12) do not represent the five listed
movements of the song, although the entirety of
Sarcophagi
is within the track 12.
The relationship of the five listed movements of "Cassandra Gemini"
to the eight tracks on the CD is believed to be as follows:
5. "Cassandra Gemini - A. Tarantism [1]" - 4:46
6. "Cassandra Gemini - A. Tarantism [2]" - 6:40
7. "Cassandra Gemini - B. Plant a Nail in the Navel Stream [1]" -
2:56
8. "Cassandra Gemini - B. Plant a Nail in the Navel Stream [2]" -
7:41
9. "Cassandra Gemini - C. Faminepulse [1]" - 5:00
10. "Cassandra Gemini - C. Faminepulse [2]/D. Multiple Spouse
Wounds [1]" - 3:48
11. "Cassandra Gemini - D. Multiple Spouse Wounds [2]" - 0:47
12. "Cassandra Gemini - E. Sarcophagi" - 0:54
On vinyl, "Cassandra Gemini" was split among two sides, in the
middle of "Faminepulse". Each side of vinyl (save the final one)
ends with a
locked groove, repeating
either a sound effect or a
bar of music
endlessly until the needle is lifted. The third side, containing
"Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore", opens by repeating
the 30 seconds of
coquí noises that
conclude "L'Via L'Viaquez"; this small portion is indexed
separately from "Miranda". A limited edition 4LP version also
contained the
Widow single as the
fourth vinyl; all four discs were printed on glow-in-the-dark vinyl
and were packaged in a red plastic case.
Original track listing
CD pressing
Japanese bonus DVD
Best Buy Exclusive
The Best Buy version of the album included a download card for one
bonus track:
Vinyl pressing
Side one
Side two
Side three
Side four
Side five
Personnel
Singles
Charts
Album
Singles
| Year |
Single |
Chart |
Position |
| 2005 |
"The Widow" |
European Hot 100 Singles |
- |
| 2005 |
"The Widow" |
Mainstream Rock Tracks |
26 |
| 2005 |
"The Widow" |
Modern Rock Tracks |
7 |
| 2005 |
"The Widow" |
The Billboard Hot 100 |
95 |
| 2005 |
"The Widow" |
UK Singles Chart |
20 |
Notes
- 1 Latin for "Swan"; it is also a constellation.
- 2 Latin for "The easy descent into Hell".
- 3 "L'Via L'Viaquez" was misprinted as "L' Via L'
Viaquez" on the back and in the liner notes of Frances the
Mute.
- 4 Latin for "Go With Me". A Vade Mecum is also a
handbook or something always carried on a person.
- 5 The official spelling for the song title is
"Cassandra Gemini"; despite the typo "Geminni" printed on all parts
of the CD packaging, the MusicBrainz
database, the vinyl release of the
album, and the band's official site all list the track as
"Gemini".
References
- YouTube - The Mars Volta - MTV Italy Interview (Part
1)
- Acclaimed Music - Frances the Mute
- Colored Vinyl
- Guitar Hero: World Tour Set List
- Amazon Customer Review:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2EI2XUO574BCQ/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
- Frances the Mute: 4xLP
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