MECHANICAL ANIMALS (1998)
SYNOPSIS
Mechanical Animals was the second in the tryptych and a far cry removal from the darkness of Antichrist Superstar.
Influenced greatly by David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and T-Rex, this was a more glam sounding album.
Again adopting a character in the three part tale, Manson was this time Omega an alien travelling to earth again to be reborn.
Imagery was prevalent in this album, including numerology, kabbalist and JFK.
The album also saw the loss of another member, this time Zim Zum who left to explore new creative avenues. He was replaced by John Lowery who became John 5 and is listed as the 'live guitarist' for the album.
ALBUM CREDITS
MARILYN MANSON IS:
MARILYN MANSON: VOCALS
TWIGGY RAMIREZ: ALL GUITARS & BASS
M.W.GACY: KEYBOARD & SYNTHESIZER
GINGER FISH: DRUMS
JOHN5: LIVE GUITRIST FOR MECHANICAL ANIMALS
ALL TRACKS: Dinger & Ollie Music, administered by Dinger & Ollie Music, BMI © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
MANSON: All tracks, songs of golgotha music
RAMIREZ: All tracks except 12, blood heavy music
GACY: All tracks except 2,3,8,9 & 10, DCLXVI music
ZIM ZUM: only tracks 1,3,5,6,9,11,12,14, violent delight music
Produced by: Michael Beinhorn and Marilyn Manson Additional Production by: Sean Beavan Mixed by: Tom Lord-Alge
DISASSOCIATIVE (lyrics:manson/music:ramirez,gacy,zum) vocals: manson, rhythm guitars and bass: ramirez, lead guitar: zum, keyboards: gacy, live and electronic drums: fish
THE SPEED OF PAIN (lyrics:manson/music:ramirez,gacy,zum) vocals and vocoder: manson, background vocals: john west, lynn davis, nikki harris, alexandra brown, acoustic guitar and bass: ramirez, keyboards,shaker and mellotron: gacy, arp synthesizer: manson, beinhorn, lead and synth guitar: zum, drums: fish
MECHANICAL ANIMALS (lyrics:manson/music:ramirez, zum) vocals: manson, bass, acoustic and rhythym guitars: ramirez, rhythym and lead guitar: zum, piano and other keyboards: gacy, drums: fish
ROCK IS DEAD (lyrics:manson/music:ramirez,gacy) vocals: manson, all guitars and bass: ramirez, keyboards: gacy, drums: fish
FUNDAMENTALLY LOATHSOME (lyrics:manson/music:gacy, zum) vocals: manson, bass: ramirez, piano and other keyboards: gacy, lead and rhythym guitar: zum, drums: fish
THE DOPE SHOW (lyrics:manson/music:ramirez) lead and background vocals: manson, bass, rhythym and lead guitars: ramirez, piano: gacy, syncussion and electric drums: manson
I WANT TO DISAPPEAR : (lyrics:manson/music:ramirez) vocals: manson, all guitars and bass: ramirez, drums: fish,samples: gacy
POSTHUMAN (lyrics:manson/music:ramirez,gacy) vocals: manson, rose mcgowan, bass and rhythym guitar: ramirez, electric percussion and keyboards: gacy, drums: fish, addotional lead guitar: zum
NEW MODEL NO. 15 (lyrics:manson/music:ramirez,manson) (vocals: manson, background vocals: kobi tai, dyanna lauren, guitars, bass and bass synth: ramirez, keyboards: gacy, drums: fish, pitifully predictable guitar solo: zum
USER FRIENDLY (lyrics:manson/music:ramirez, gacy, zum) vocals: manson, pornography: dyanna lauren, guitars, bass, bass synth and noise: ramirez, piano and keyboards: gacy, scratching: dj neil strauss, drums: fish
GREAT BIG WHITE WORLD (lyrics: manson/music:ramirez, gacy, zum) vocals: manson, acoustic, rhythym guitar and bass: ramirez, keyboards: gacy, drums: fish, lead guitar: zum
COMA WHITE (lyrics:manson/music:ramirez,gacy,zum) vocals and piano: manson,lead and rhythym guitars and bass: ramirez, keyboards and mellotron: gacy, acoustic and leadguitar: zum
I DON'T LIKE THE DRUGS (BUT THE DRUGS LIKE ME) (lyrics: manson/music:ramirez, zum) vocals: manson, backround vocals: john west, lynn davis, nikki harris, alexandra brown, rythm guitars and bass: ramirez, clavinet, stings and programming: danny saber, keyboards: gacy, outro guitar solo: dave navarro (spread entertainment, inc.), additional lead guitar: zum, drums: fish
THE LAST DAY ON EARTH (lyrics: manson/music:manson, gacy, ramirez) vocals and vocoder: manson, bass synth and all keyboards: gacy, lead and acoustic guitar: ramirez, lead guitar: manson, drums: fish
CD SECRETS
Mechanical Animals has a few secret messages hidden within and on the CD itself. These are viewed by looking at the CD layout through the blue CD case. The writing, seen in yellow when looking normally becomes green through the case and reveals these messages: (From Mansonwiki)
On the page with the color equation the yellow text embedded between the big 'a pill to make you numb' (above the lyrics to 'Coma White') says upside-down in yellow: www.comawhite.com, which is an early promotional site for the album.
On the page with the lyrics to'User Friendly', is a diagram of washing your face in airplane facilities. Behind it, in yellow and again reversed, says 'I NO LONGER KNEW IF COMAWHITE WAS REAL OR JUST A SIDE EFFECT'.
On the page with the lyrics to 'Fundamentally Loathsome', in yellow is the Omega logo, the words 'A SUN WITH NO PLANETS burning in circles'. Also on the same page is 'NOW CHILDREN IT'S TIME FOR RECESS, ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES'
On the page with the album credits, is the lyrics to the hidden track 'Untitled' that plays when the CD is inserted in a computer and the autorun program loads: IN THE END I BECAME AND I LED THEM / AFTER ALL NONE OF US REALLY QUALIFIED AS HUMANS / WE WERE HARDWORN AUTOMATIC AND AS HOLLOW AS THE 'O' IN GOD / I REATTACHED MY EMOTIONS CELLULAR AND NARCOTIC / FROM THE TOP OF HOLLYWOOD IT LOOKED LIKE SPACE / MILLIONS OF CAPSULES AND MECHANICAL ANIMALS / A CITY FILLED WITH DEAD STARS AND A GIRL I CALLED COMAWHITE / THIS IS MY OM?GA.
And finally, on the page with the lyrics to 'The Dope Show', in yellow text says, EVEN MACHINES CAN SEE THAT WE ARE DEAD.
TRACKLISTING
1 Great Big White World 5:01
2 The Dope Show 3:46
3 Mechanical Animals 4:33
4 Rock is Dead 3:09
5 Disassociative 4:50
6 Speed of Pain 5:30
7 Posthuman 4:17
8 I Want to Disappear 2:56
9 I Don't Like the Drugs 5:03
10 New Model No. 15 3:40
11 User Friendly 4:17
12 Fundamentally Loathsome 4:49
13 The Last Day on Earth 5:01
14 Coma White 5:40
REVIEWS
Rolling Stones Magazine review by Ann Powers
Glam lends Manson some important vocal props and outfits, but Mechanical Animals does not adhere to that era's playful mood. Its ultimate sources are the goths: Bauhaus, Love and Rockets, and early Cure. Mechanical Animals gets its cavelike spaciousness from these influences and tweaks them with an industrial crunch, an arena-rock guitar solo or a soulful backing vocal. Goth was glam's lonely heir, born into a conservative era instead of a decadent one, forced to struggle for regard from the beginning. Manson appreciates goth's power to make misfits feel like self-styled tragedians.
section3 review by section3
This is not just the album of the month...this is the album of the year. Possibly the decade! When I heard that Marilyn Manson went glam I was afraid of hearing shades of Poison and Dokken. Instead, Manson pulls out an album closer to 70s glam a la David Bowie. There are striking similarities to Bowie's glam years and Manson's new image. He's still anti-christian, pro-individualism, and singing the praises (and sorrows) of drugs. This new direction Manson (person and band) has taken is quite possibly the most-original image twist in the history of music. This is an album to be immediately placed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and worshipped forever.
allmusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Taking his image and musical cues from Bowie, Warner reworked Marilyn Manson into a sleek, androgynous space alien named Omega, a la Ziggy Stardust, and constructed a glammy variation of his trademark goth metal. With pal Billy Corgan as an unofficial consultant and Soundgarden producer Michael Beinhorn manning the boards, Manson turns Mechanical Animals into a big, clean rock record -- the kind that stands in direct opposition to the dark, twisted industrial nightmares he painted with his first two albums. It can make for a welcome change of pace, since his glammed-up goth is more tuneful than his clattering industrial cacophony, but it lacks the cartoonish menace that distinguished his prior music. And without that, Marilyn Manson seems a little ordinary, believe it or not -- more like a '90s version of Alice Cooper than ever before. True, Mechanical Animals is the group's most accessible effort, but Manson should have remembered one thing -- demons are never that scary in the light.