Published on Monday, February 9, 2009
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music

Tool track not so pleasing to toe-tappers or beat-keepers


By DAN STONE
Last updated on 02/08/2009 at 6:35 p.m.

Tool’s track “Lateralus” off the album of the same name is a toe-tapper’s nightmare.

It’s bad enough that Tool constantly switches between 3/4 time and 5/8 time just between the verses and instrumental sections, but the chorus destroys the ambition of even the best tapper of toes.

The time signature in the chorus changes from 9/8 to 8/8 to 7/8 time, which creates the illusion of the melody being in common time, but tosses out any sense of conventional beat accents.

To further complicate matters, the syllable counting in the lyrics in the verse section dance around the Fibonacci sequence.

From an instrumental standpoint, the breakdown in the bridge and the various guitar solos layered throughout the song add just enough kick to keep the song from scaring off the musically illiterate.

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