Intermission is just the organ version of the Jimmy riff. Jimmy is about how his childhood was ripped away from him at the age of 11 when his mom had an aneurysm that left her bedridden. It was symbolism of going from a carnival to a dark, haunting, heavy riff.
The circus sounding interlude leads into Jimmy. They both have the same tune just different instruments. Jimmy is about basically the death of his childhood when his mother had a stroke I believe and became paralyzed when he was 11. He’s a kid at the circus then it gets ugly real quick. That’s my take on it anyway.
Went back to see your Undertow reaction. Great reaction. I think the TOOL album you are looking for is Lateralus. Happens to be the next one. Just please dont wait 3 years to discover it
Haha... I think you were also in a mood that day my friend! Generally speaking you're right about the interludes and segues. But if the band follows up with a good song I usually don't take points away. I think artists need to explore these things and release them. Otherwise those bits get bottled up and distracts them from better greatness. Prince is like that way. He had an entire album where he spoke to the "operator" for a minute or two between "Billy Jack Bitch" or "P. Control."
Hooker With A Penis - is a message to fans about selling out/fanboying/record industry/consumerism. It’s all right there in the first few lines. “I met a guy in pop culture fashion trends drinking coca cola telling me I sold out”, “he said he was OGT (original gangsta tool) back in 93 bought the first EP”. Tool’s first EP in 93 Opiate wasn’t well known but they had people telling them they were hardcore fans. An Australian band that had a small grassroots following that grew and grew and then went mainstream, later put a song on their new album after they had attained radio success called “I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff”. The second album for a band and how it is received is always interesting.
I completely agree with you, that was another thing that I criticized that album a lot when I heard it at the time, Ænima has some of the best Tool songs, but also too many experimental sound interludes that lasted too long, maybe If they had made that stuff much shorter, it would have greatly improved the experience.
