You'll find this tune just over halfway through The Mars Volta's first album, "De-Loused in the Comatorium", a concept album which is about... whatever it is that The Mars Volta writes about. While Cedric Bixler-Zavala does write some pretty abstract lyrics, it does become clear that this album is about a character named Cerpin Taxt, who falls into a coma for an entire week after overdosing on morphine and rat poison. However, the story of Cerpin Taxt is actually based on the death of Julio Venegas, a friend of Zavala's and El Paso artist. In addition to the complex makeup of the content itself, there were also many notable contributors to this album. Rick Rubin was the producer for the album while Flea and John Frusciante of Red Hot Chili Peppers both provided bass and guitar, respectively. In this first effort, The Mars Volta was able to prove that they were not only very talented musicians and songwriters, but also great collaborators. It's a shame that they broke up earlier this year, but they've moved onto new projects (Zavalaz and Bosnian Rainbows), which both seem pretty interesting, so keep an eye out for them.
Got any favorite concept albums?
