Track Listing

1. Homecoming Queen
2. Weird Sisters
3. 850 Double Pumper Holley
4. Rainmaker
5. Spirit Ditch
6. Tears On Fresh Fruit
7. Saturday
8. Cow
9. Little Bastard Choo Choo
10. Hammering The Cramps
11. Most Beautiful Widow In Town
12. Heart Of Darkness
13. Ballad Of A Cold Lost Marble
14. Someday I Will Treat You Good
15. Sad And Beautiful World
16. Gasoline Horseys

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21656 in Music
• Released on: 1996-05-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
The snappily-titled debut Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot signified the emergence of a major talent. Sparklehorse frontman Mark Linkous was one of an encouraging vanguard of young American songwriters (see also 16 Horsepower, Grant Lee Buffalo, Uncle Tupelo, Nadine) attempting to wrench the legacy of Hank Williams out of the clammy grip of Nashville's legion of anodyne Garth Brooks clones and redefine American music for a new age. The fact that Linkous owed as big a debt to the likes of Pavement and Sebadoh only served to make his music more interesting. The songs on this album, simple enough ballads at heart, came dressed in a wildly varied array of effects and distortions, all astutely judged to accentuate, rather than distract from, Linkous's lyrics of loss and hope. A great start. --Andrew Mueller

CD Description
VIVADIXIESUBMARINETRANSMISSIONPLOT is an impressive debut, sprung fully formed from the head of Sparklehorse songwriterMark Linkous. A melancholy ode to rural America, the album meanders between sparse, whispered lullabies like "Heart of Darkness" and distortion-drenched rockers like "Hammering the Cramps" while remaining oddly cohesive.
Opening with the sleepy "Homecoming Queen", Linkous immediately quotes Shakespeare ("A horse, a horse...my kingdom for a horse..".) andestablishes his seemingly contradictory lush/lo-fi sound. Not content with structured songs alone, he also adds bursts of noise, samples, and tape loops to the mix on tracks like "850 Double Pumper Holley", "Little Bastard Choo Choo" and "Ballad of a Cold Lost Marble". Linkous has obviously done his musical and cinematic homework, revisiting Neil Young's "burned-out basement" (from "After the Gold Rush") in "Spirit Ditch", and quoting characters played by Roberto Benigni andTom Waits from Jim Jarmusch's film DOWN BY LAW in "Sad & Beautiful World". In fact, despite extremely different vocal styles, Waits is frequently cited by Linkous as a major influence, and hints of Waits' oddball aesthetic are present throughout the album. Ultimately, however, it's Linkous' own vision that carries this rustic, ramshackle masterpiece.

Customer Reviews

Tortured, melancholic - a musical triumph.
A truly haunting album, but one which everyone should own. The album itself defies strict definition, the songs ranging from acoustic melancholy (Spirit Ditch, Homecoming Queen, Most beautiful widow in town, Sad and Beautiful World) to powerfully upbeat, if rather harsh sounding, tunes (Hammering the Cramps, Rainmaker, Someday i will treat you good).

The songs are interrupted at intervals by occasional 'noise' tracks, offering an effective contrast and reminding us that this is no mere collection of songs.

Mark Linkous' lyrics are ambiguous, often tortured. ("sometimes days go speeding past/sometimes this one seems like the last", "I want my records back/and that motorcycle gas tank that i spray painted black")

Linkous' voice is filled with emotion and it is impossible not to be affected in some way by the strength of this album. Outstanding tracks: Homecoming Queen, Spirit Ditch, Heart of Darkness, Most Beautiful widow in town.

For anyone who is open to new styles or who wants to experience music with some genuine emotion behind it, buy this album along with other classics such as Jeff Buckley's 'Grace', Nick Drake's 'Pink Moon', and anything by the Red House Painters. Enjoy.

" A hOrsE , a H oR se...mY kI ngDom fOr A hOrsE...."
it is cinstantly surprising to me that Mark Linkous (aka 'sparklehorse') is neither big in england or the u.s.a. for his albums have,amidst an array of critical acclaim, single-handedly sculptured a new form of music that is so remarkably distinctive that it cannot be ignored. But in this dark day of 'bubblegum' music i guess it's not surprising that the greatest artist of all time has gotten lost. I personally love all forms of music but none have ever appeared so perfect to my ears as that of Sparklehorse. This first album surely affirms this with it's painfully accurate confrontations with life writing in riddle and metaphor to such a degree that Mark appears to be questioning the very use (or should one say OVER-USE) of words and lyricism. And well done too, as due to this his love songs or observations feel fresh and surreal conjuring up images of dark places in exotic surroundings that somehow croon with sensitivity and safety.

The songs Spirit Ditch and Sad And Beautiful World suit this mood perfectly, and although undeniably 'down' they manage to pull out strong waves of warmth and satisfaction. The occasional contrast of such equally superb tunes as the almost hit single Rainmaker and the thrashing Hammering The Cramps pull the rest of the album into sharp perspective and yet never once seem out of place. Make no mistake-there is not a single song on this masterpiece that isn't perfect.From the shambling acoustics to the rumbling static to the whiney sound of a voice pulling through a detuned radio. Eat this up ladies and gentlemen as there is precious little that can touch it.

Genius in every sense of the word.

( if you already know and love Sparklehorse, then try Grandaddy as a welcome stop-off point between albums... )

beautiful and intense
This is my favourite sparklehorse album. the tracks alternate between beautiful, melodic and soothing to more intense guitar pieces. if you don't love this band and this album then you're missing something. music to make you laugh, smile and cry all at once without the cheesey lyrical harmonies of Blunt and Rice.