The most recent album by
Texas-based art-punk octopi the
Butthole Surfers. While most people are familiar with this for "
that one song" (
Pepper, admittedly a very good song), it is actually a very, very good
record. It mixes a
variety of styles very smoothly and manages to
rock hard,
freak out,
calm down, and even
be insightful.
The variety of styles on the album is
impressive, most impressive. It goes from straight-ahead
fast punk like "
Birds" and "
Ulcer Breakout" to
kick out the jams rock and roll like "
Cough Syrup", "
Thermador", and "
L.A.." There's also a couple of laid-back, folky songs like "
Jingle of a Dog's Collar" and "
TV Star", and a couple of crazy freak-outs ("
My Brother's Wife", "
Let's Talk About Cars", and "
Space"). Then there's a few
unclassifiable,
ultra-cool songs like "
Pepper", "
Ah Ha", and "
The Lord is a Monkey."
The album rocks, and
hard. There's some great
guitar-riffing, some solid bass (the superfast line on "
Ulcer Breakout" kicks too much ass), and some stomping drumwork.
Gibby Haynes maniacal,
distorted vocals are priceless and brilliant. There's some very
good lyrics too . . . I personally love the line "everybody loves freedom, you'll find it inside your head / everybody loves
Jesus, you'll meet him when you are dead" from "Thermador."
Anyways, go buy it. The
Butthole Surfers are a
truly original, creative band, something that is very rare in this day and age. And if you could appreciate "
Pepper", chances are you might like the rest of this
monstrosity too. I'm listening to it
right now.