Oh my, the rumors were true: We’ve known that Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Tortoise have joined Beck’s latest Record Club for weeks, but whispers about the group’s impromptu session of Yanni covers weren’t readily believed… until tonight. Take it away, Beck:
This installment of the Record Club takes on ‘Yanni Live At The Acropolis’. The original album featured Yanni with a full orchestra at the Athenian Acropolis. A TV special of the concert was played repeatedly on PBS through the mid 90’s. To flesh out and capture the complex arrangements, several studio musician heavyweights were brought in to read a heavily doctored score with interpolations of everything from Stravinsky to Shania Twain (look for others). Beck and Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth provided auxiliary music and noise, with Thurston improvising lyrics over the previously instrumental track ‘Santorini.’ The new lyrics give the track an added urgency and pathos. Tortoise show up later on a few other tracks.