Amazing. a must have recording for anyone wanting to break out of their preexisting mental box.

Excellent album!!!! I bought this one on cassette when it came out way back in 1989 after hearing the song "Hard PLains Drifter (Or As I Take My Last Breath And The Noose Grows Tighter Around My Neck, The Events Of The Day Flash Before My Eyes)" which was written by Zorn (and has the same artists from Naked City playing on it) from Bill Frisell's album "Before We Were Born", and fell in love with it. This album is alot of fun from begining to end and this has to be one of the TIGHTEST bands ever on record. Also of special note on this are (what I like to call) the worlds longest pickslide at the end of "The James Bond Theme" and the song "Snagglepuss" which sounds like an impersonation of someone changing stations on a radio dial complete with squeals, static, and a s---load of different kinds of music (even the NBC chimes) in 2 minutes and 44 seconds. My favorite song though is their version of "The Sicillian Clan". Very cool.

This album is a must own for all of us modern jazz guitarists who orginally cut our teeth on heavy rock music. John Zorn is a brilliant and varied composer/arranger. He has composed everything from string quartets to klezmer to avantjazz to pure noise. Although nowhere near inclusive of Zorn's complete ouvre, Naked City is a good introduction to John Zorn. It is very abstract, but still listenable. The album has a handful of covers ranging from popular (movie themes to Batman and James Bond) to esoteric (Theme from Sicilian Clan by Ennio Morricone). There is a basic theme of Movies to this album, something that's evident not only in the songs chosen, but in the three dimensional way the music is arranged. Also notable on this record is the guitar work of Frisell. He gives this album a country/surf kind of vibe and rarely digs into his jazz bag.