Mechanical Animals [PA] (CD - 1998)

Marilyn Manson: Marilyn Manson (vocals, vocoder, guitar, ARP synthesizer); Twiggy Ramirez (guitar, bass, synthesizer); John5 (guitar); M.W. Gacy (piano, Mellotron, keyboards, synthesizer); Ginger Fish (drums).

Additional personnel: Zim Zum (guitar, beinhorn, synthesizer); Dave Navarro (guitar); Danny Saber (strings, Clavinet, programming); DJ Neil Strauss (scratches); Kobi Tai, Dyanna Lauren, John West, Lyn Davis, Nikki Harris, Alexandra Brown (background vocals).

Producers: Michael Beinhorn, Marilyn Manson, Sean Beavan.

"The Dope Show" was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance.

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.

Personnel: Marilyn Manson (vocals, piano, synthesizer, ARP synthesizer, vocoder, background vocals); Ginger Fish (vocals, vocoder, drums); Rose McGowan (vocals); Zim Zum (guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, guitar synthesizer); Twiggy Ramirez (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric bass); John 5 (guitar); Madonna Wayne Gacy (piano, Mellotron, keyboards, drums, shaker, sampler); M.W. Gacy (keyboards, synthesizer); Danny Saber (keyboards); Sean Beavan (programming); Alexandra Brown, Kobi Tai, Nikki Harris, John West, Lynn Davis (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Tom Lord-Alge.

Recording information: Conway Studios; Westlake; White Room.

Editor: Sean Beavan.

Photographers: Joseph Cultice; Marilyn Manson.

Approaching the new millennium, Marilyn Manson shows himself to be standing squarely at the crossroads of the past and future of popular music. MECHANICAL ANIMALS takes the crunch and shock of '70s glam rock and mates it with the automated pings and electronic sheen of artists such as the Dust Brothers and Danny Saber (who both appear on this album). Manson's knack for going light years beyond Alice Cooper's brand of shock rock starts with the packaging itself. On it, the freaky Floridian appears as an asexual being with flaming red eyes and hair (whose appearance is not unlike a cross between David Bowie's Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs characters).

The music itself not only assaults the senses but a variety of targets as well. Naturally enough, the Religious Right is a convenient whipping boy ("Rock Is Dead"), as are back-stabbers ("Speed Of Pain") and the beast that is the media ("New Model No. 15," "The Dope Show"). When Manson isn't smashing you in the mouth with a crashing wall of guitars and new wavey synths, his instincts lead him into late-Floydian nihilism ("The Speed Of Pain") and hi-NRG ditties tailor-made for an imaginary sci-fi disco ("Posthuman," "I Want To Disappear"). minimize