BUTTHOLE SURFERS: PIOUHGD (1990)
1) Revolution Part 1; 2)
Revolution Part 2; 3) Lonesome Bulldog; 4) Lonesome Bulldog II; 5) The Hurdy
Gurdy Man; 6) Golden Showers; 7) Lonesome Bulldog III; 8) Blindman; 9) No, I'm
Iron Man; 10) Something; 11) P.S.Y.; 12) Lonesome Bulldog IV; 13*) Barking Dogs.
Although a lot of critics seem to think that Piouhgd (on some releases, the title is
spelt Pioughd, but I seriously doubt
there is a «correct» way of spelling this) shows the beginning of the decline
for the Surfers, I would disagree — in fact, I'd say that, in terms of being
true to the spirit of the band, this is a major imporvement over Hairway To Steven. Where the latter was
almost way too normal — and, consequently, boring — here they return to all
sorts of banshee excesses that may be silly, meaningless, irritating, but give
this band an actual reason to exist.
The opening bluesy jam of ʽRevolutionʼ may seem
to start this off on the same note as ʽJimiʼ, but where ʽJimiʼ was meandering
and murky and eventually just dissolved in an interminable yawn-inducing
acoustic coda, this stuff is faster,
punchier, and has a bite. The first part is all about Leary's fuzzy riff, a
distant descendant of ʽFoxy Ladyʼ, losing some of that ancestral crunch but
retaining all of its mind-melting psyche-delish-ness; and during the second
part, it is slightly pushed aside to make way for a simpler, folksier rhythmic
pattern and some arrogant vocals, as if they were switching from Hendrix mood
into Jefferson Airplane mood — then the overdubs begin to pile up, and we get
synthesizers, radio static, twenty layers of screaming, moaning, and
blabbering, ringing telephones, wailing sirens, and all sorts of things to
suggest a ʽRevolution 9ʼ type of chaos, only everything remains steadily underpinned
with a rhythmic melody. In short, seems to be much more crazy stuff going on
here than there ever was on ʽJimiʼ.
Other highlights here include ʽGolden Showersʼ,
whose cheerful Farfisa organ and distorted sax, combined with the somewhat
uncomfortable lyrical topic, would probably make this track eligible for a
Bonzo Dog Band cover; ʽNo, I'm Iron Manʼ — another in a never-ending line of
Black Sabbath deconstructions, although this one, I think, only borrows the
opening chord of the riff (it is the cavernously distorted vocals that actually
make you think of ʽIron Manʼ, rather than the melody); and the hilarious remake
of their old chestnut ʽSomethingʼ in the style of Jesus And Mary Chain, for no
other reason, I guess, than to show how versatile the band's powers are.
There are relative lowlights, too — nobody
seems to think much of their country send-up ʽLonesome Bulldogʼ, but I
actually think that the silly song itself is merely a pretext for three more
«variations», where they play the waltz theme with three different guitar
tones/styles (my guess is inspired by Brian May first time around, by Lou Reed
second time around, and... uh... is that Sabbath once again they are imitating
in Part IV? Downtuning the guitar and
bass at the same time? Could be, couldn' it?); which counts as funny in my book. The only real lowlight is probably the «cover» of Donovan's ʽHurdy Gurdy
Manʼ, where the main gimmick is a wobbly tremolo effect on the vocals that
will probably make you puke if your head is not too well balanced. But that's
okay, we can take it.
I am not a major fan of the lengthy jam
ʽP.S.Y.ʼ, because, once again, too much of it sounds like an homage to the
psychedelic jam bands of old, from the Grateful Dead to Can: ass-kicking, yes,
jaw-dropping — no. What is totally
jaw-dropping, though, is the last track, which was only made available on the
1992 reissue of the album by Capitol Records: ʽBarking Dogsʼ is one of the
greatest sonic nightmares that this, or, for that matter, any band has ever produced. Pinned against an unnerving
pseudo-cello electronic pattern, you get banshee-howling guitars, blasts of
white noise, agitated and/or screaming vocals, occasional bursts of gunfire,
and, yes, barking dogs that crop up with the frightening regularity of enemies
in some particularly creepy and bloody arcade game. This is actually their answer to ʽRevolution 9ʼ, and, frankly
speaking, it's better, because the various samples and overdubs are much more
thoughtfully put together — so that you get a very realistic picture of making
a crazy nighttime run through the streets of a city gone mad with ravaging,
burning, and killing. Technically, it should probably be called an «industrial»
composition, but emotionally, it goes way beyond «industrial» and into the
realm of «apocalyptic».
If the album only had ʽBarking Dogsʼ on it, it would still be worth a thumbs up;
fortunately, uneven as it is, and not breaking any radically new ground, its
share of minor crazy-awesome ideas is still higher than its share of silly
misfires and its share of
"this-is-kinda-boring-when-will-this-ever-end" moments. A pretty damn
good, unjustly overlooked album in their wobbly, perverted catalog.
No comments:
Post a Comment