Search - Jonestown :: Peoples Temple

Tasteless garbage

S. matz | city of angels | 03/07/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"i do not know how to take this compilation. on disc two, "the suicide symphony" is the famous dialogue that was recorded during the suicides. this is heady stuff, folks. disc two is a chilling recording. to hear jim jones talking (preaching, brainwashing, whatever,ect..) with members of his congregation, while other members are falling to the ground dying is almost too much to take. all most. as a historical document, one can listen with intent as the sobering dialogue plays. i think it is an important recording for the sake of what was going down in the states politically and socially during this period of time, and one can remove themselves and think this recorded document as one piece of a complex situation, hopefully willing to research further. san fransisco was a hotbed during this time, and there is much to learn from the events from that month(which include the assasinations of harvey milk and george moscone). as i listened to the dialogue, i felt like a sadistic voyeur, a bit dirty at times, and a definite sense of acute guilt.

what perplexes me is disc one. whoever decided to make ostinato "soundscapes" using short dialogue passages as a musical statement is not only tasteless, but disturbing. this is not a new concept. you can do this with any recordings from sociopaths who have made their mark of terror (manson immediately comes to mind). what this does, however, is cheapen the historical significance of the actual dialogue.

i know this review seems a bit politically correct, but i cannot seem to get out of my head all my feelings of how a "jonestown" could have happened (which, by the way, is far from a closed case...another c.i.a. operation to be sure). being a musician, i can understand why the attraction to use this dialogue in a tape "mix", and maybe that is the point: the absurdity of the whole mess.

a note about the cover art: throughout the cover art, images are surrounded by computer generated flowers, as to tie this episode of history in tender loving care. the producers of this particular compilation could have used, say, maybe a picture of a child who was forced to drink some (what they thought) kool-aid, not knowing that soon after they would depart this life, not by choice, but by the hands of selfish adults who knew better.

i am thinking about destroying these discs, but first i am going to write to the web site to find out if any money from the sale of this is going to some organization that is affiliated with victim's families. if not, do not buy this compilation. we do not need some punks to make a profit from this human tragedy.

oh, and the "soundscapes" are not impressive. they are boring, and musically infantile. you are no john cage or gavin breyers. a 1 star rating for the poor attempt to make art on disc one. bad karma."