Review #89: Butthole Surfers - Cream Corn From the Socket of Davis (EP) (1985)

CREAM CORN FROM THE SOCKET OF DAVIS (EP)

Year: 1985

Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Post-Punk, Hardcore
Label: Touch & Go Records
Tracks: 4
Length: 16 Minutes (Short)
Style: Weird/Funny
My Rating: 6/8

This is the fourth Butthole Surfers to be released. It's one of the more under-rated releases in their catalog, and it's a 12" EP with four songs on it. It's pretty similar in style to "Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac", the record that came out almost a year before it -- a deranged mish-mash of backwoodsy psychedelic-punk-weirdo-rock.

1. Moving Down to Florida
The song is two parts interspliced into different parts that swing back and forth between eachother, rather than playing the vocals and instruments simultaneously. The spoken parts are narrated by a hilariously creepy hillbilly, discussing his plans to move to Florida as well as various outrageous conspiracy theories he's heard about everything from Lyndon B. Johnson to gigantic radioactive tadpoles... all in Florida! The musical parts are rockabilly-style repetitive beats, with the occasional big-guitar-solo. In the end, the vocals are spoken alongside the instruments, in a more traditional song style.

2. Comb
Starts off with some ominous noizy droning, and the sounds of Gibby vomiting. After about a half-minute, the signature Butthole Surfer-sludge tempo kicks in, with abrasive, atonal guitar riffs, and Gibbytronix-produced unintelligble distorted moans, groans, screams, and yells. The song ends with a similar setup to how it began. A brief really funny-sounding noize is heard. That's the end of Side 1...

3. To Parter
As the title suggests (sort of), it's a two-part song. The first half is a repetitive No-Wave-y lead-driven instrumental piece -- reminds me a lot of early Sonic Youth. The second half is more melodic, as Gibby sings about a group of white men who sold qualudes to some monkeys, who all got addicted to them and "died up in the trees". The song goes on to criticize the teachers of the world, comparing us human beings to the aforementioned qualude monkeys. Gibby screams a bunch. The song ends.

4. Tornadoes
The shortest song on the album. It's a fast Dead Kennedys-esque song -- the riff and the rhythm are pretty straightforward, but it's still got that psychedelic flair to it... perhaps it was one of their real early songs (a lot of their earliest songs -- before "Brown Reason to Live" even -- sounded like this). The gang makes funny noises and scream in the background. And that's all, folks!

I can understand why it's not exactly heralded as a masterpiece... it's good, but there just isn't enough! Of course, it's just an EP. The original 12" vinyl pressing has been long out-of-print, but the contents of this EP can be found on the American CD version of "Rembrandt Pussyhorse", and the U.K. CD version of "Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac". So yeah, if ya like Buttholes and Surfers and Butthole Surfers, you should totally listen to these songs. But I'm real tired and pissed off and can't think of anything else to say. So, good day, all y'all!

MUSIC VIDEO FOR "TORNADOES"

Review #53: Butthole Surfers - Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac (1984)

PSYCHIC... POWERLESS... ANOTHER MAN'S SAC

Year: 1984
Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Noise, Post-Punk, Hardcore
Label: Touch & Go Records
Tracks: 11
Length: 35 Minutes (Medium-Length)
Style: Weird/Funny
My Rating: 6/8

The Butthole Surfers are an alternative/punk-rock band from Texas. The group formed in 1981 and throughout the 1980s were notable for their extremely bizarre music and shocking stage performances. As you might know, they are one of my favorite bands ever. They are hilarious and weird as fuck, yet enjoyable for their music alone. This is their second LP, and their first release on Touch and Go Records. Also their first record with two drummers, who at this point (and throughout most of their underground phase) were King Coffey and Teresa Nervosa, who referred to eachother as twins because of their similar appearances. While "Brown Reason to Live" was pretty weird, this one is even weirder. Even further elimination of punk conventions on this record, and an extensive use of warped studio magic and fucking around with tapes.

1. Concubine
A slow, very distorted song. Consists of Gibby rambling and screaming like a maniac as lyrics. Ends with a robotic voice moaning something. Trademark Butthole Surfers sound.

2. Eye of the Chicken
This one's hilarious. It's kinda fast, and it has explosion noises, psychedelic guitar-sounds, and robotic Gibby voices rambling on about his father changing his brother's diapers and his mother throwing furniture at him, and some hilarious screaming. I swear, stuff like that is enough to make a person like me squirt milk outta his nose. Short and sweet.

3. Dum-Dum
One of the more mainstream-accessible pieces from the album. The beat reminds me of pirates for some reason... yarggh. Not sure what the lyrics are about, but they go something like "You want the people to be the people to want the people to love you, you need the people to show the facts, instead again, they shot you...", and so on.

4. Woly Boly
This song's name is a play on the name of the popular 1950s rock & roll song, "Wooly Bully". Similar tempo to "Dum-Dum". Gibby sings really fast and incoherently, ranging from actual singing to screaming to singing like he's flailing his arms about n' stuff like some sort of LSD redneck.

5. Negro Observer
Cleaner guitar sounds than most of the songs here. There's the old saxophone in this one... the combination sounds awesome. The lyrics are about a group of aliens who are very big and strong and appear in parking lots, deserted discount stores, low-riders, and singles bars to abduct black people and observe them for unknown purposes. Gibby laughs like a madman.

6. Butthole Surfer
Supposedly the song that was the reason for their name (all by accident, reportedly). It's the most traditional-sounding song on here. Very fun and catchy riff. It's basically about butts and butthole surfers. What else? In the background of the chorus, Paul Leary can be heard shouting "Butthole Surfer, Suck My Dick!". At the end, it sounds like it's going to end... and then... a very fast finale suddenly happens... now it's over -- NOT! The whole fake-ending thing happens about three fucking times. End o' Side 1.

7. Lady Sniff
Another slow, fucked-up noizy song. Gibby sings in a low-pitched sounding voice that sounds a bit like Cookie Monster. The interludes to each verse are punctuated by random humorous sound-clips.

8. Cherub
A slow, spooky song with gothic-sounding lyrics. A bit repetitive for my tastes, but it doesn't suck at all or anything. They made a music video for this song.

9. Mexican Caravan
Favorite song on the album. It's a fast song about sneaking to Mexico to buy heroin. Both Gibby and Paul express their love of Mexico and eagerness to get there. Gibby sings the first two verses, each separated by a unique, sloppy noise-solo. It really takes off when Paul Leary sings the final two verses, though. Gibby just kinda sings, but Paul shrieks them like a fuckin' drunk eagle. It's great, really.

10. Cowboy Bob
An earlier version of this was on "Live PCPPEP". More saxophone. Both the old and this version have their own good points. Gibby's voice is run through either a synthesizer or a toilet-paper roll tube, here. Really badass riff. Paul can be heard screamin' a little, too.

11. Gary Floyd
Paul Leary sings this one, in a non-screaming voice for once (Gibby provides background vocals). Another country-punk sounding song like "Wichita Cathedral" before it. Very up-beat. But, after the song ends, then the album ends. No hidden tracks for you, sir.

This was the last album where Paul Leary got to sing a lot. After that, it was pretty much just Gibby singing. Here, there are still elements of traditional punk, but they definitely were getting weirder as the albums went by. Still, it's not quite as weird as "Rembrandt Pussyhorse" and "Locust Abortion Technician", which followed it. In a way, I guess you could use this record to introduce a potential fan to the band. Enough "normal" stuff and weird stuff to let you know what to expect. Or you could just listen to the first record, like I did. Whatever the case, this is another great installment into the Butthole Surfers library.

MUSIC VIDEO FOR "CHERUB"

Review #36: Butthole Surfers - Live PCPPEP (EP) (1984)

Live PCPPEP (EP)

Year: 1984

Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Hardcore, Noise
Label: Alternative Tentacles
Tracks: 7
Length: 21 Minutes (Medium-Length)
Style: Weird/Funny
My Rating: 6/8

After the Butthole Surfers' first LP, they began recording what would be "Psychic, Powerless... Another Man's Sac" in 1984. However, when recording issues came up, the Buttholes reportedly had a financial need to release another album. And so, they released a live record, "Live PCPPEP" on Alternative Tentacles to supplement this. This is the first instance of a clown on a Butthole Surfers album cover.

The album is mostly made up of live versions of most of the songs on "Butthole Surfers", but there's two new songs as well: "Cowboy Bob", a song that would later appear on the next record, and "Dance of the Cobras", a short, bizarre noise piece.

1. Cowboy Bob
A different version of this song was on "Psychic, Powerless... Another Man's Sac". I like this version better, though, to be honest. It's a little slow in most parts, and it utilizes Gibby's saxophone talents, as Paul Leary screams line a maniac, and Gibby wails.

2. Bar-B-Q Pope
This is pretty similar to the song on the first record, except inbetween the verses, Gibby is doing a mile-a-minute imaginary sports commentary, probably tripping on acid 'er something. The studio version is still superior, though. I thought Paul's vocals sounded more hilarious on the original version.

3. Dance of the Cobras
This track never really appeared anywhere else. Not even sure if it quite counts as a "song" as much as just a noise-jam. Just bass guitar and saxophone sounds for about half a minute.

4. The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave
Once again, like the original, but slightly inferior. The beats in the instrumental sections aren't as fast, and the lines seem a little more forced, here. Still, it's the Butthole Surfers. End of Side 1.

5. Wichita Cathedral
Starts with the little bass-thingy, which lasts a lot longer than the studio versions's does. Otherwise, this song is pretty much the same as the studio version.

6. Hey
This one begins a lot slower than the studio version. They usually started "Hey" off a lot slower when it was played live. However, like the studio version, it gets a lot faster in the halfway section onwards.

7. Something
Much like "Hey", they played "Something" really slow live. This version is two fucking minutes longer than the studio version. Ends with Gibby Haynes talking to the crowd.

So, this was the first Butthole Surfers live album. Not quite as epic of proportions as "Double Live", but it's still somewhat solid (heh, "solid"). In my opinion, the main reason to get it iz the badass version of "Cowboy Bob", or if you wanna hear what "Dance of the Cobras" sounds like. The sound quality is pretty nice for a 1984 live record. BUTTHOOOOOOOLDFLEELEELFSLE;GLS;'GL';FLG DFDKLGJFDGS[PSDGPSFGSLD6576GHJKJ

SOME LIVE PERFORMANCES OF SONGS FROM THE ALBUM:

Review #26: Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician (1987)

LOCUST ABORTION TECHNICIAN

Year: 1987

Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Noise, Experimental, Hardcore
Label: Touch & Go Records
Tracks: 11
Length: 33 Minutes (Medium-Length)
Style: Weird/Scary/Funny
My Rating: 8/8

This is one of the greatest albums to ever be made. It has been said to scare some people, amuse others, and it makes me laugh! With that being said, a lot of people consider this album to be the high-point of the band's career, and the band had never made something quite this weird or disturbing before, and they certainly never did again.

According to Gibby Haynes itself, it's a concept album in which each song is a concept in itself. And he's just about right. There is almost zero filler here, except for the fact that they had two different versions of the same song on here. But other than that, every single song is different. Every one has something new to offer. There is grunge, punk, industrial rock, thrash-metal, and a whole plethora of downright bizarre, extremely creative tracks.

The whole album is like a mental roller-coaster ride. In fact, don't even read this review if you've never heard this record before. I don't want you to know what to expect. Listen to the damn album. That's the best experience you could have. But, if you've already heard this, then READ ON:

1. Sweat Loaf
*silence*
(slowly, soft string music can be heard fading in)
Child: "Daddy?"
Father: "Yes, Son?"
Child: "Wh-Wh-What does regret mean?"
Father: "Well, Son, a funny thing about regret is that it's better to regret something you HAVE done than to regret something you HAVEN'T done... and by the way, if you see your Mom this weekend, would you be sure and tell her: SATAN! SATAN! SATAN!"
That dialogue opens the album. After that, it goes right into a slow, grunge-sounding intro with Gibby yelling. This ends with a soft guitar solo and the sounds of the wind blowing. Back to the "verse" section which is harder and heavier, and now has Gibby using the "Gibbytronix" (a voice modulation device) and laughing. Back to the calm section of the song. Back to the verse part, one more time! This ends with the sound of wind blowing as Gibby's howls fade out. The whole song is said to be some sort of parody of "Sweet Leaf" by Black Sabbath. And still, they have not yet even scraped the surface of the insanity to ensue...

2. Graveyard (Version 1)
Starts with just the guitar. Then the beat and the bass join in. It's of a similar musical style to the previous track, and Gibby's voice is being played in a very low pitch. Sounds really funny, to be honest! This song isn't my favorite, though... it's a bit repetitive.

3. Pittsburg to Lebanon
Starts with the sounds of birds tweeting, which is interrupted by another heavy dirge-fest. Gibby's singing here resembles '70s metal vocals. This one is even slower than the last two songs. Spooky falsetto vocals in the background. The song ends with sounds from a radio. It's about to get even crazier...

4. Weber
This is where it starts to get really weird. This is the shortest track on the album. It's basically a short little lead-guitar driven instrumental piece that is about 37 seconds long or so. Before you know it, it fades out in a slightly eerie way.

5. Hay
This one is scary. It's the soundtrack to insanity. There's a bunch of extremely fast backwards music playing with the sounds of a bunch of mentally retarded adults screaming "HAY!" in the background. Has a very freaky ending, with all of them yelling "HAY" one last time with a scary echo into the darkness.

6. Human Cannonball
The only "normal" song on the entire album. It's basically a traditional-sounding punk song in with lyrics that actually sound unusually serious for the Butthole Surfers. I listen to this in the car a lot. Starts with the beat, and then you hear a voice saying "Are you ready to rock?? WELCOME!!!", and then the bass, and the guitar kick in. This one has a truly wonderful riff, introduced by a nice solo. Before you know it, Gibby starts singing a song that seems to be about feelings of abuse or being rejected. There's another solo later on in the song, and it's one of my favorite guitar-solos I've ever heard. But this song is great. It's like a single moment of sanity and calmness amidst the sea of chaos. But it doesn't last forever. This song is the end of Side 1.

7. U.S.S.A.
This one is also very strange. It sounds like industrial rock. It has one of the scariest, most abrasive-sounding riffs ever, which has a strange clicking sound in the background, the sound of a record being scratched, and a strange high-pitched voice repeatedly shouting "U.S.S.A.! U.S.S.R.! U.S.A.! U.S.R.!". That's pretty much the song, but it lasts for awhile.

8. The O-Men
This is the definition of "badass". It's a crossover-thrash song, and it has Gibby growling unintelligible lyrics to a repeated beat, as well as sped-up voices, slowed-down voices, and a "solo" that is made up of the sounds of tape rewinding.

9. Kuntz
An amazing track. An old-fashioned Thai folk song totally fucked and screwed up to make it sounds like they're saying "kunt" over and over again as well as other Butthole magic. If this doesn't totally make you laugh on the first listen, then I feel sorry for you.

10. Graveyard (Version 2)
WHY the hell did they have to do the same song twice on this album? That's my only complaint about it. They could have included some other NEW song, but this is just a more "normal" sounding version of track 2.

11. 22 Going on 23
This one is pretty weird. It's basically the same bassline and beat repeated over and over with the sounds of a radio broadcast interview of a schizophrenic woman who claimed that she was sexually assaulted. I was playing it in the car one night and my friend actually asked me to turn it off, he was so offended by it. There is a strangely "happy" solo in the middle of this one. The song ends with, well, the sound of cows and crickets. While somebody else who had reviewed this album said they were in a "field", I personally think "slaughterhouse" sounds more fitting. It's a pretty creepy ending.

The Butthole Surfers were never quite this weird again, and some actually even think they "sold out" after this album. Well, regardless, if you like any form of alternative music, you simply MUST listen to this! You'll never be quite the same.

Review #1: Butthole Surfers - Butthole Surfers (1983)

BUTTHOLE SURFERS

Year: 1983
Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Hardcore, Noise
Label: Alternative Tentacles
Tracks: 7
Length: 18 Minutes (Medium-Length)
Style: Funny
My Rating: 7/8

*feedback* "THERE'S A TIME TO FUCK, AND A TIME TO CRAVE, BUT THE SHAH SLEEPS IN LEE HARVEY'S GRAVE!!!!!"

If you were to actually hear this on the actual album, you would likely either go "what the fuck is this crap?" OR just laugh your ass off. Hopefully the latter. There are some people who avoid this band even because of the CONCEPT of listening to a band with the word "Butthole" in its name. As a result, it is a lot harder to find this band's records in stores than it should be (or at least they act like "Electriclarryland" was the only album they ever released). Well, it's their loss.

By 1983, mainstream music was beginning to get worse than ever before, and this album was probably one of the biggest slaps to the face of that in its time. Offensive, weird, and un-structured. This was also one of the first "slow-core" albums, as the Butthole Surfers were one of the first bands (alongside Flipper, Black Flag, and the Melvins) to take hardcore punk and slow it down to unconventional speeds (this eventually resulted in the "grunge" genre). I think that if I had heard this in 1983, I would have considered the Butthole Surfers kings. This was long before they got to the pinnacle of their weirdness, but it'll still definitely confuse a lot of mainstream music-lovers.

But there is a lot more to the album than that. Part of its appeal is its diversity of style. Tracks 1 & 6 are hardcore thrashers, tracks 2 & 4 are sort of trippy-sounding pieces, and tracks 3 & 7 are examples of slow hardcore proto-grunge stuff. Side 1 is good, but I think that the best part of the album is the entirety of Side 2. The album is only 18 minutes long, so it's easy to listen to the whole thing in one sitting, and there's very little filler. Anyways, here's the damn review...

1. The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave
This one is hilarious. It's basically a bunch of offensive weird rhymes about various culture figures from the 1960s, interspliced with thrashy sections that make nearly every so-called "rock" band today look like pussies. You can also hear some guy screaming "NO!" in the background. The songs slows down with the narrator (Paul Leary) talking about how God is 2nd to him, and after that, it's just some guy curled up in the corner screaming "SHUT UP!" in agony, as the screams turn to wimpers...

2. Hey
This is probably one of the songs I like less off of the album. It almost sounds like garage-rock or something, and this is the first song on the album where Gibby Haynes does the vocals. From the lyrics, I think it is supposed to be some sort of weird love-song. Halfway through the song, the speed picks up in the song and it gets slightly more edgy.

3. Something
This is a slow song. Paul Leary sings, and Gibby plays the saxophone in this song. There doesn't appear to really be any sort of theme to the song, just some random lyrics. There's a pretty repetitive-but-heavy bassline, and a lot of sax and guitar-noise in the foreground. Side 1 ends with this track, and we go on to the even better Side 2.

4. Bar-B-Q Pope
This is the song that got me hooked on the Butthole Surfers. It's a slower, psychedelic song about a guy who has killed the barbecue man, and is hiding. Also, the Pope has been shot. It opens with a mellow, mature-sounding bass and guitar line, but it suddenly interrupted by Paul Leary's maniac shrieks, as he sings the song in a way that makes it hard to tell wether he's feeling angry, guilty, or happy. It's a pretty funny song.

5. Wichita Cathedral
This is a song that you can dance to. It kinda reminds me of "cowpunk" a bit, as it has a country-ish bassline and beat coupled with punk rock fury. Gibby sings in this song, and it's about how he got wasted at the Wichita Cathedral and was chased by a dog. It has a nice mood to it. Maybe you should get wasted to this song as well.

6. Suicide
Probably one of the few serious-sounding songs that this band has ever done. It's basically a deep, poetic-sounding song sung by Gibby Haynes about, well, feelings of suicide and being trapped in a room of problems. It's pretty fast if that's what kind of stuff you dig, and you've gotta love the two great screams from Gibby that the song ends with. Shortest song on the album.

7. The Revenge of Anus Presley
Ya know "Pee Pee the Sailor" (a parody of Popeye the Sailor Man with an ass for a face) from the album's disc art? I'd like to think that these two are friends, or at least brothers of some sort. And while Pee Pee the Sailor comes off as being some sort of jolly fellow, Anus Presley is one of the angriest, meanest motherfuckers you'll ever hear of. He's got the nerve to rip off your toenails as if they were just Twinkies, or peel off your skin as easily as he'd peel a potato. I personally like to go with Wikipedia's explanation of this track, as it being a Black Flag/Henry Rollins parody, because if that was the intent of this track, this is a very good parody. It may not be musically great or anything (who cares?), but I think that it is very funny.

Well, that is the end of the album. It's not too short, but not too long, it's a solid listen, there isn't really a boring track on it, and don't mess with Anus Presley.