Little Worlds


Little Worlds is the tenth album by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, released in 2003. The album was released as a 3-disc set. Ten tracks from the set were also released on a single disc called Ten from Little Worlds.
The album contains several tracks that are hidden at the beginning and end of Disc One and at the end of Disc Three. These hidden tracks present a short and humorous story of two men, voiced by Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams and Michael McKean, stuck in traffic and flipping through different radio stations. The songs they hear are songs from the album played in different styles and on different instruments. For example, the slow and soothing song "Poindexter" is featured but redone as a heavy metal song with each band member playing an instrument different from his ordinary one. The redone version is also complete with rhythmic screaming to which one of the men listening in the car makes the comment "I don't even know what they are saying."

Reception

In his Allmusic review, music critic Zac Johnson wrote the "three-CD concept album has ambitious intentions, but ultimately ends up feeling a bit scattered... Still, every note is impeccably played and pristinely recorded, and those Flecktones fans who like to pull apart their extremely technical pieces of music, analyze them, and put them back together will find hours of rabid discussion on Little Worlds."
Doug Collette, writing for All About Jazz praised the album's packaging, sound quality and conception; "Lest you think Little Worlds is an exercise in esoteric self-indulgence, pay attention to the way the album flows over the course of the three discs. While much of the early going insinuates itself gently through the recurring use of Celtic melodic themes, there’s a distinct if understated increase in the intensity of the music between the first disc and the second. The appearance of guitarist Derek Trucks... on “Pineapple Heart” ratchets up the visceral momentum of the music another level altogether, while “The Last Jam” brings this entire affair to an emphatic climax."
Critic Thom Jurek called the album an "outrageous exercise in self-indulgence... so excessive that Sony issued a single-disc sampler from the set hoping it would sell."

Track listing

;Disc one
"Bil Mon" is preceded by a pregap hidden track.
  1. "Bil Mon" – 8:42
  2. "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" – 4:06
  3. "Puffy" – 6:45
  4. "New Math" – 6:59
  5. "Longitude" – 3:04
  6. "Latitude" – 5:04
  7. "Centrifuge" – 2:05
  8. "Off the Top " – 4:54
  9. "Off the Top " – 4:55
  10. :"Hidden Track/Follow the Line" – 0:48
;Disc two
  2. "The Fjords of Oslo" – 0:41
  3. "Sherpa" – 5:20
  4. "What It Is" – 3:41
  5. "The Leaning Tower" – 6:06
  6. "Mudslingers of the Milky Way" – 6:14
  7. "Captive Delusions" – 3:54
  8. "Costa Brava" – 8:23
  9. "Poindexter" – 5:38
  10. "Prequel" – 3:14
  11. "Return of the Mudslingers" – 2:50
;Disc three
  2. "The Cave" – 1:35
  3. "Next" – 5:56
  4. "Pineapple Heart" – 5:06
  5. "Snatchin'" – 4:47
  6. "Reminiscence" – 5:33
  7. "Sleeper" – 12:16
  8. "Flunky" – 0:39
  9. "The Last Jam" – 4:26
  10. :Hidden Track/The End – 1:11

    Personnel

;The Flecktones
;Guest artists
At the request of their record label, the Flecktones released a regular length album simultaneously with the three-disc set. The shorter version, entitled Ten from Little Worlds, contains highlights from the full album, and is only one disc long. Tracks 1, 2, 5, 9 & 10 are edited versions of the originals. The music file of Bil Mon is titled Big Mon.
In his Allmusic review, music critic Zac Johnson wrote "While the full work seems a little disjointed and too expansive, the ten-song collection is a little more digestible... the unfortunate hip-hop version of Flatt & Scruggs' "Ballad of Jed Clampett" never needed to be recorded."
  1. "Bil Mon" – 7:13
  2. *Bela Fleck: electric synth banjo
  3. *Jeff Coffin: soprano sax, finger cymbals
  4. *Victor Wooten: fretless bass, Roland Sound Canvas
  5. *Roy Wooten: Synth-Axe Drumitar, X-Drum acoustic kick, gong
  6. *Cyrus Niccore: didjeridoo
  7. "Ballad of Jed Clampett" – 3:55
  8. *Bela Fleck: banjo
  9. *Jeff Coffin: alto sax, keyboard
  10. *Victor Wooten: bass
  11. *Roy Wooten: Synth-Axe Drumitar
  12. *Sam Bush: mandolin
  13. *Bobby McFerrin: vocals
  14. *Divinity Roxx: vocals
  15. *Sara Watkins: fiddle
  16. "Pineapple Heart"
  17. *Bela Fleck: banjo
  18. *Jeff Coffin: alto flute, keyboards
  19. *Victor Wooten: fretless bass
  20. *Roy Wooten: Synth-Axe Drumitar
  21. *Sam Bush: mandolin
  22. *Derek Trucks: electric guitar
  23. *Joe Wooten: theremin
  24. "Snatchin'"
  25. *Bela Fleck: electric synth banjo
  26. *Jeff Coffin: tenor sax with harmonizer, keyboards
  27. *Victor Wooten: bass, foot pedal synth
  28. *Roy Wooten: Synth-Axe Drumitar
  29. "Next"
  30. *Bela Fleck: banjo
  31. *Jeff Coffin: tenor sax
  32. *Victor Wooten: six-string bass, cello, keyboard
  33. *Roy Wooten: Synth-Axe Drumitar
  34. *Subasch Chandram: gutam
  35. *Ganesh Kumar: kanjira
  36. *Congar Ol Ondar: Tuvan throat singing
  37. "The Leaning Tower"
  38. *Bela Fleck: banjo, electric banjo, synth banjo
  39. *Jeff Coffin: soprano sax
  40. *Victor Wooten: fretless bass
  41. *Roy Wooten: Synth-Axe Drumitar, acoustic shakers
  42. *Derek Bell: Irish harp
  43. *Kevin Conneff: bodhran
  44. *Sean Keane: fiddle
  45. *Matt Molloy: flute
  46. *Paddy Moloney: Uillean pipes
  47. "Puffy" – 6:45
  48. *Bela Fleck: banjo
  49. *Jeff Coffin: soprano sax, keyboards
  50. *Victor Wooten: bass
  51. *Roy Wooten: Synth-Axe Drumitar, X-Drum acoustic kick, vocals
  52. *Pamelia Kurstin: theremins
  53. "Sherpa"
  54. *Bela Fleck: banjo, electric synth banjo
  55. *Jeff Coffin: tenor sax, keyboard
  56. *Victor Wooten: electric bass, electric standup bass
  57. *Roy Wooten: Synth-Axe Drumitar, X-Drum acoustic kick, acoustic drums and cymbals
  58. *Pamelia Kurstin: theremin
  59. *Branford Marsalis: soprano sax
  60. "Off the Top "
  61. *Bela Fleck: banjo
  62. *Jeff Coffin: alto sax, tenor sax
  63. *Victor Wooten: bass
  64. *Roy Wooten: Synth-Axe Drumitar
  65. *Chris Thile: mandolin
  66. *Sarah Watkins: fiddle
  67. *Sean Watkins: guitar
  68. "Off the Top "
  69. *Bela Fleck: banjo
  70. *Jeff Coffin: alto sax, tenor sax
  71. *Victor Wooten: bass
  72. *Roy Wooten: Synth-Axe Drumitar
  73. *Chris Thile: mandolin
  74. *Sarah Watkins: fiddle
  75. *Sean Watkins: guitar