The Mars Volta Album: “Widow”

Omar said in an interview that the track "Frances the Mute," the fiteen-minute track on this single, was actually his favorite song on the entire _Frances the Mute_ album. Your guess is as good as mine why it didn't make the album or why they didn't put _Frances the Mute_ out as a double-CD, but you really don't have all of _Frances the Mute_ until you have this single. (Any way, that's the part of Volta you love the most: the enigma.) This track has Volta sounding more like Yes than they ever have around the ten-minute mark with some spiky jamming and then some _Tales from Topographic Ocean_ under-sea stuff and a rousing rifforama with Cedric's "this never happened" refrain. It's really a great song, as good as anything they have ever done. And let's just say, without giving too much away, that it makes _Frances_ come full circle both musically and lyrically. Get your hands on it.

"The Widow" is the first single that The Mars Volta chose to promote Frances the Mute, their second full-length album. This CD contains it in its radio edit form, which some prefer to the double-length version on Frances the Mute (the last half of which consists of cycling samples played over and over again as a drawn out cool down). Either way, this CD is something you'll want to own as a true The Mars Volta fan, because not only does it contain "The Widow", it also comes with "Frances the Mute", the title track that was missing from the CD for lack of room. The massive track plays for 14:39. If I could compare to any of the other songs from Frances the Mute, it would have to be "Cassandra Gemini", but of a mood more like "Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" in the way this song has to both warm up and cool down. How "Frances the Mute" should have fit into the track list of the album is arguable, but many prefer it in the first position, serving as an ominous prologue. No matter what, the song is definitely worth getting your hands on if you're a big fan of The Mars Volta. If you aren't and you don't own any of their full-length CD's, you should pass this up and buy De-loused in the Comatorium or Frances the Mute instead.

This single has two tracks:

1. Frances the Mute (non-album track)

2. The Widow (edited time for radio play)

Clocking in at 14 minutes and 39 seconds, Frances the Mute is obvioulsy the "real" first song that was left off the album of it's same name. Towards the end of the song (at about 2:30 seconds left in the song), you can hear the classical guitar riff that segue's into the begining of Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus. Just listen to these songs back to back starting with Frances the Mute, and you'll see what I mean. And what it all means is that because of all their noodling and meandering, this album is too long to fit on one CD, thus , we have this single, so you can get the missing begining.

So aside from some of the seemingly unecessary ambient noise and "jamming", Frances the Mute is a good song, and when listened to it along with the album, it just seems more complete.

If you have the album Frances the Mute, then you have the song the Widow. Nothing's different here except some of the ambient stuff is cut off the end so it could be played on the radio.

Just went to Best Buy yesterday, to buy Deloussed and they've got the single for free. Volta is a group that is going to keep you guessing thorough the entirety of each track. Frances The Mute (the song) is no different. Pick this up if you get the chance.

The song "Francis The Mute" is the key to the album, also titled "Frances The Mute." It is a fifteen minute title track that couldn't fit on the album because the album itself barely fits onto a CD. You can hear that this song is really supposed to be the first song of the album... it leads directly into the "Sarcophagi" section of the album's first track.

Plus, you get the edited version of "The Widow" (which is what you're probably buying it for in the first place...). It doesn't have all that ambient noise the album version is bogged down by. Perfect for mix CDs (if you're into doing that sort of thing). I only gave it 5 out of Five because I couldn't give it an 11. Awesome.