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The Rev’s best album – Liquor in the Front (above), even though I do like their first one too, Smoke ’em if you got ’em (Eat steak, Eat steak, eat a big old steer, eat steak, eat steak, til yah have one beer). It’s been a few year’s since I have seen them, and I think the last time was at The Knights of Columbus when they played a double-bill with Los Straightjackets.
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Not sure why I liked this band? I have never thrown this tape out, and everytime I come across it I have to listen. Maybe it’s the singer’s weird voice like a combination of Fred Sanford and Mel Torme.
Review by Johnny Herring
The Crash Test Dummies have a really original sound. They have unique instrumentation, plus a bass singer as a lead vocalist. Singer Brad Roberts also writes songs that are different than anybody else’s. This, their second album, contains their unlikely hit, “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm”. If you heard that song and like it, you will probably enjoy the rest of their album.
I never had the fortune of seeing this band, but when this album came out one of my ex-girlfriends told me it was one of the sweatiest shows she has ever been to. She also said the lead singer acts like a reincarnation of GG Allin on stage.
Review by Wheelchair Assassin
It’s bands like the Jesus Lizard that make me regret wasting my teen years in the mid ’90’s listening to FM radio-approved drivel, and Liar is one of the main reasons why. Liar is a wild, unhinged piece of punkish, metallic alt-rock, one that obliterated petty genre distinctions at the same time that it exposed the legions of pretenders that were just starting to pop up at the time. Want to know how ahead of its time Liar was? It came out before such boring Seattle knockoffs as Bush and Silverchair had even emerged, to say nothing of the ridiculous throwbacks (this means you, Puddle of Mudd) polluting the scene right now. Of course, being ahead of the curve is a virtual guarantee of going unnoticed by the masses, but then I don’t think mainstream success was high on the Lizard’s list of priorities.
Anyway, in the grand tradition of Steve Albini acts such as Shellac and Big Black (and yes, I know the Lizard’s albums were merely *produced* by Albini, but why get picky?), Liar is assaultive, abrasive, and decidedly in contrast to all things commercial. Melody, good taste, and traditional rock-song structures are thrown right out the window here in favor of swirling collages of noise complete with twisted rhythms and the singular nasal howl of the great David Yow. Opener Boilermaker sets the tone literally from its first second, conjuring up a psychotic atmosphere out of a series of spastic drumbeats, hellish guitar riffage, and Yow’s nightmarish chants. The next song, Gladiator, might be even more frightening, with Yow menacingly intoning such oddball lyrics as “You should see her use a gun,” backed by a bass riff that hits with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the stomach. On slower tracks like Perk and Zachariah, Duane Denison’s creepy-crawly riffs scratch against the surface of Yow’s bizarre vocal impressionism, but fortunately the album loses nothing by slowing down because its oppressive atmosphere is never compromised one bit.
So, what more can be said about Liar? Well, unfortunately, not much. This is definitely one album that must be experienced to be fully comprehended. But let me leave you, gentle reader, with this: Liar is a supreme testament to a band that may not have released a classic every time out, but had a singular vision and didn’t allow the temptations of fame or money to get in the way. If only more acts had their integrity, I might not have to comb the internet looking for stuff to listen to.
I just love this album and actually bought the tape in 1984 when it was realeased. Danny realeased SOLO as a supposed solo album but it’s obvious his old band Oingo Boingo is playing on it. Danny is famous nowadays for writing TV and music theme songs. He is most famous for writing The Simpsons theme song.
Review by E. Sloan
Most of the reviews below are right on. When this came out originally in 1984 I foolishly trusted the critics and ignored it, but I gave it another try recently and it hooked me immediately. Every song is strong in its own way and that’s quite an accomplishment at any time, but especially in 1984 when MTV and new wave were really encouraging “hits” and most albums had one or two big songs and a lot of filler (for example, Nena’s “99 Red Balloons,” Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “Relax,” and Thompson Twins – well, two actually – “Doctor! Doctor!” and “Hold Me Now”). Of course, there were a few monster albums in 1984, Cyndi Lauper’s “She’s So Unusual,” The Cars “Heartbeat City” in particular, and these hugely commercial albums only detracted from the smaller, quirkier releases such as Elfman’s. Such a shame. I enjoy them all equally now. A couple of other observations:
There are (at least) two versions of “Gratitude:” The lead track on this album, called “Gratitude (Short Version)” which is 5:11 in length, and track 7 on the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack CD (anybody remember Eddie Murphy?), my preferred mix which includes a “spoken” section in the middle, which is ironically shorter, at 5:04. (Maybe the original soundtrack LP version was longer? I don’t think it was. So maybe there’s a third longer version out there, a ‘dance mix’ perhaps? Probably.) Oh yeah, then there’s the 4:48 (shorter yet!) one recorded for Boingo Alive, blurring the distinction between solo and band even more.
And, as noted in previous reviews here, of course this is “an Oingo Boingo album.” Elfman had sole songwriting credit on almost every song Boingo recorded, so the reverse is actually more true: Boingo albums are really Elfman albums. This is the one that’s more accurately named. Don’t get me wrong, every one of those crazy players added enormous character to the Boingo sound: Steve Bartek on guitar; Sam Phipps, Dale Turner, & Leon Schneiderman on horns, Carl Graves on keyboards, John Avila on bass and Johnny `Vatos’ Hernandez on percussion – all brilliant. It’s just that there’s no doubt as to who was running the show.
Anyway, if you’re a big early-to-mid period Boingo fan (like me), and/or New Wave fan in general, you’ll want this in your collection. In general this is not quite as “dark”, and horn section less prominent, than the official Boingo catalog, but the songs here are so catchy they will charm you in their own way.
Incesticide is one of Nirvana’s best albums. You can tell they were still in their infancy. I think I actually bought this one before Nevermind – I also have a t-shirt of the album cover.
Review by Thomas Magnum
Incesticide was released to capitalize on the mammoth success of Nevermind. The album collects early singles, b-sides and outtakes. The album was most people’s introduction to the fact that the band had released music prior to Nevermind. The album’s first two songs, “Dive” & “Sliver”, made up the band’s first single. They are both short, but extremely powerful. The album contains some incredible work in addition to “Dive” and “sliver”, most notably “Aneurysm”. The song is a furious workout with squealing guitars , feedback, power drumming and amid all the noise, an incredible catchy melody. Other strong cuts include “Molly’s Lips”, “Beeswax”, “Stain” “Hairspray Queen” and “Been A Son”. There are some forgettable numbers like “Mexican Seafood” and “Aero Zeppelin”, but overall, Incesticide is better than your average compilation.
l3wis