Grand Opening and Closing

Grand Opening and Closing is the debut album by the American avant-garde metal group Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. It was recorded at Polymorph Recording, Oakland, CA, and was recorded, mixed, mastered by bassist Dan Rathbun. The album was produced by Dan Rathbun and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.

Grand Opening and Closing
Studio album by
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
ReleasedOctober 30, 2001
Recorded1999-2001 at Polymorph Recording, Oakland, California
GenreAvant-garde metal[1]
Length59:08
LabelSeeland/Chaosophy (original)
The End Records (re-release)
Blood Music (vinyl reissue)
ProducerDan Rathbun, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum chronology
Grand Opening and Closing
(2001)		 Of Natural History
(2004)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

The album was originally released as a CD on October 30, 2001 by Seeland Records in conjunction with Chaosophy Records. When the band signed to The End Records in 2006, the album was re-released on September 5, 2006 with three previously unreleased tracks.[2]

Grand Opening and Closing features David Shamrock on drums, the only SGM album to do so. He was replaced by Frank Grau, who plays drums on "The Stain" for this album.

Like with Of Natural History, some of the album's lyrics are inspired by different authors and poets. For example, the track "Sleep is Wrong" quotes a section of a poem by Dylan Thomas,[3] while "Sleepytime (Spirit is a Bone)" is inspired by William T. Vollmann's The Rainbow Stories and phrenology.[4]

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsMusicSongLength
1."Sleep Is Wrong"Nils FrykdahlSleepytime Gorilla MuseumNils Frykdahl6:35
2."Ambugaton"Hank WilliamsDavid Shamrock 5:38
3."Ablutions"Carla KihlstedtCarla Kihlstedt 6:05
4."1997 (Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's...)"Nils FrykdahlSleepytime Gorilla MuseumNils Frykdahl4:48
5."The Miniature" David Shamrock and Nancy Elliot 0:59
6."Powerless"Nils FrykdahlSleepytime Gorilla MuseumNils Frykdahl9:30
7."The Stain"Dan RathbunDan Rathbun 6:46
8."Sleepytime (Spirit Is a Bone)"Nils FrykdahlSleepytime Gorilla MuseumNils Frykdahl10:16
9."Sunflower" David Shamrock 7:52
End Records re-release
No.TitleLyricsMusicSongLength
10."More Time"Carla KihlstedtCarla Kihlstedt/SGM 2:48
11."Flinch"Carla KihlstedtCarla Kihlstedt 4:46
12."Powerless (live 01/06/06)" (Recorded at Great American Music Hall, San Francisco.)Nils FrykdahlSleepytime Gorilla MuseumNils Frykdahl9:42

Personnel
  • Carla Kihlstedt – Electric Violin, Percussion Guitar,[5] Autoharp, Pump Organ, Voice
  • Dan Rathbun – Bass Guitar, Slide-piano Log, Pedal-action Wiggler, Thing, Autoharp, Voice
  • David Shamrock – Drums, Piano
  • Frank Grau – Drums on "The Stain"
  • Moe! Staiano – Percussion, Metal, Pressure-cap Marimba, Spring, Spring-nail Guitar, Popping Turtle, Food Containers, Tympani
  • Nils Frykdahl – 6 and 12 string guitars, Tibetan Bells, Autoharp, Voice

Notes
  1. Prato, Greg. Grand Opening and Closing review allmusic.com. Retrieved on 2010-04-12.
  2. http://www.theendrecords.com - SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM - Grand Opening And Closing! Accessed July 30, 2014. Archived from the original, May 20, 2008.
  3. "From a poem by Dylan Thomas, used by at least one mother to taunt sleep-resistant children" (Grand Opening and Closing, liner notes, p. 112, note 5).
  4. "Hospital color-lines inspired in part by William T. Vollmann's The Rainbow Stories" & "Spirit is a bone is the motto of the phrenologists, 18th century skull-readers." (Ibid., notes 6 & 7, respectively.)
  5. If some of these instruments seem unusual, the reason is that SGM uses a lot of homemade instruments. See the main article about the band for more information.
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