LOUD: the Jesus Lizard 27 Aug 1989 Chicago

01: Why is there blood on my clothes?
02: And then his oats from the night before came up with the sun.
03: Lies in a bath with no water, and a bath full of blood.
04: You can't expect too much from two braindead brickheads.
05: He lazy eye bagging but sorely, no morsel of spunk had he left, who was he drained.
06: Let them sing.
07: When you take off your stockings, flower blossoms and bird sings.
08: Some kind of bra-wearin' hairy fish droolin' into your dish.
09: I remember, but not very well, marinating in a pool, a puddle of blood and urine.
10: Fuckin' ass waxeatin' bastard, always mean and always plastered.
11: Your first mistake was to think that you could fuck with the ranch.
12: Helios Creed?.
13: Your blood flows by like a meandering stream, bubbling, gurgling, brook-like.
14: May we rest with the weight of your fresh steamin' shit on our backs.

There was no better live band on Earth than the Jesus Lizard.  Here's the proof - and it was only their third gig, an in-store performance at Chicago's Reckless Records on Broadway.  Having been to this store hundreds of times, and knowing the size of the "performance space" (ha!), the thought of seeing this band *there* just blows my mind.

This featured gig is an absolutely stunning soundboard, provided by Whitney their sound guy.  Here, given the mastering love of the Analog Loyalist, this document is easily the best (and I include Club and Show here) Lizard gig in existence, from an audio perspective.  It's as if they dialed in the settings used to record Head, and just played the songs.  Is Albini hiding behind the mixing desk?  Forget the version on Dime (which I used as my source), it blows compared to this.

Sims' bass is full of guttural wallops.  Mac's drums pillage your eardrums.  Duane's guitars bleed.  Yow's vocals terrify.

I was going to let you figure out the song titles from the lyric snippets leading the post, but decided to play nice...

the JESUS LIZARD
LOUD
27 August 1989
In-store performance
Reckless Records, 3126 N. Broadway, Chicago IL

01 Starlet
02 One Evening
03 Bloody Mary
04 Rabid Pigs
05 (None Other Than) Killer McHann
06 Metropolis (aka Tight 'N Shiny)
07 Good Things
08 S.D.B.J.
09 My Own Urine
10 Waxeater
11 Blockbuster
12 Chrome
13 Pastoral
14 7 vs. 8

Starts out a bit phasey in "Starlet" but quickly settles into sonic perfection.

Yer lossless FLACs are here.

Now go play this LOUD!

the Jesus Lizard: Peel remastered (must hear!)

Some time back we brought to you a spectacular set of BBC Peel session recordings by the Jesus Lizard, lifted by a kind soul direct from BBC master reels.  As detailed in that original post, these recordings have never been released and are exactly as you would imagine in regards to quality direct from BBC masters.

Two sessions were recorded for John Peel, at the legendary BBC Maida Vale studios: a set in the Goat timeframe on February 24, 1991 with BBC producer (and former Mott the Hoople drummer) Dale Griffin, and one in the era of Liar on September 27, 1992 with BBC producer Nick Gomm.

Mutual blog friend Chunklet posted the '91 session as MP3s some time back on Chunklet, which drew a companion blog response from none other than tJL bassist David Wm. Sims.  Among other tidbits and musings on the Queen, Sims offered a recollection of the moment when the band, after recording basic tracks, marched into the control room to have a first listen with producer Griffin.  Griffin's response?  “It’s certainly not music for pussies, is it?”

I laughed, at least (when I read it, that is; of course I wasn't there!).

The thing is, the final mixdown of both sessions (granted, as per custom most Peel sessions had the band track, mix and edit everything for that particular session over one grueling day, not slaving weeks over the mix etc.) didn't really force the point home that it certainly wasn't music for pussies.  When I listen to the Jesus Lizard, I like that it's the aural equivalent of thumbscrews to my head.  I hate the term "slamming" with regards to music, but really, that's what this band sounds like at its very best.  The Peel recordings almost sound neutered, perhaps so Granny won't run for the hills after walking into the kitchen, when she realized little (insert very English-sounding boy's name here) left the kitchen radio on playing Radio One's Peel program?  While excellent, the recordings just don't really compare to the albums recorded with Albini with regards to overall sonic impact.

So, I got to work.  Following mastering engineer Bob Weston's recipe for when he and Albini remastered the tJL Touch and Go records for the 2009 reissues, after a 10k bump and cranking the limiter, here we are.  Joke!  Joke!  (Weston, when asked on the Electrical Audio forums what he and Albini did (if anything) to the material when remastering it, replied as an inside mastering engineer joke "10k bump and crank the limiter" - a wry remark as to what often happens when your favorite record is remastered and trumpeted as the latest and greatest...)

Seriously, I did pull some tricks and magic dust and really worked on the overall sonic impact of these sessions.  They now very comfortably sit within the band's overall (Touch and Go) catalog, convincingly not being "music for pussies".

I am, as last time, posting this as FLAC.  This really needs official release and I do hope that if it ever comes to pass that this does get an official release, they don't use the raw material as-is but consider what the band is and present the record as such.  I would expect BBC engineers probably have better tools at their facility than I do with regards to mastering, but then again, I don't lose David Bowie one-of-a-kind broadcasts either...

the JESUS LIZARD
PEEL
mastered by Analog Loyalist 12/2011



Session One:  Recorded 24 Feb 1991, broadcast 17 March 1991
Producer: Dale Griffin
Engineers: Julia Carney & Mike Robinson
Studio - Maida Vale 3

Tracks:

01 Wheelchair Epidemic
02 Bloody Mary
03 Seasick
04 Monkey Trick


Session Two: Recorded 27 September 1992, broadcast 29 October 1992
Producer: Nick Gomm
Engineers: R. Jordan & N. Gomm
Studio - Maida Vale 3

Tracks:

05 Gladiator
06 Whirl
07 Puss
08 Boilermaker

---

Mac McNeilly (Drums)
David Wm. Sims (Bass)
Duane Denison (Guitar)
David Yow (Vocals)

the Jesus Lizard 1991/1992 Peel Sessions BBC master!

This is why I love the internets.

Some years back the slow, steady BBC Peel Session catalog release schedule came to an end. I don't know why; while most obvious sessions have been released either via the band themselves or via Strange Fruit, the ultimate roundup leaves a huge chunk of the BBC archives untouched.

The Jesus Lizard - a band very close to your humble blogger indeed - recorded two sessions for the late John Peel, in 1991 and 1992. Neither of these saw official release anywhere, not even as bonus tracks on the recent deluxe remasters on Touch and Go. Copies taped from the broadcast(s) did circulate among fans, but until today (err, last night) I'd never heard anything better than N-th generation cassette dubs with all the muffledness and noise that entails.

So imagine my curiosity when I came across what was purported to be a pre-FM set of tJL Peel Sessions. The few times I've heard non-official pre-FM Peel Session tracks - by any band - are because the band themselves had a copy. So I obtained the fileset, got even more intrigued when reading the info file that came with it, and, well, listened. And I was blown away.

This material is exactly as purported, and in fact the original description was too modest: not only are these pre-FM, they are pre-ANYTHING. What I mean by this is that this can only have come from BBC masters, via someone high-up with the Beeb or tJL themselves (or Touch and Go). This fully appears, audibly and visibly (in Audition) to be an actual copy of the masters.

Was this in line for release at one point? Did pre-production copies get generated? Is this a mastering candidate for release? Until the party responsible comes out and clarifies, we will never know. But barring no other information available, I will just guess that at some point this was in line for release and what we have here is a digital dub of the master. Further clarification from the source indicates these did indeed originate from someone with high-level access to the raw BBC masters, at the BBC itself, so there you go.

Thanks to i86time and the original uploader via dimeadozen for this!

Needless to say, all technobabble aside, the material is blisteringly good, brilliant even. It's the Jesus Lizard goddamnit!

Our version is slightly modified from the Dime seed: levels were adjusted, tops/tails done, and better track splits made. Not a huge improvement over the Dime seed, but 1) you don't have to register to download from here, and 2) I like mine better ;)

enjoy!

the JESUS LIZARD
Peel Sessions 1991-1992
BBC master source

original notes below:

Jesus Lizard Peel Sessions
Lineage: Pre-FM source > gold cd-r > wav > cd-r (my copy) > wav > flac

01 Wheelchair Epidemic
02 Bloody Mary
03 Seasick
04 Monkey Trick

Recorded: 24-02-91
Broadcast: 17-03-91
Producer: Dale Griffin
Engineers: Julia Carney & Mike Robinson
Studio - Maida Vale 3

05 Gladiator
06 Whirl
07 Puss
08 Boilermaker

Recorded: 27-09-92
Broadcast: 29-10-92
Producer: Nick Gomm
Engineers: R. Jordan & N. Gomm
Studio - Maida Vale 3

Mac McNeilly (Drums)
David Wm. Sims (Bass)
Duane Denison (Guitar)
David Yow (Vocals)

You'll run the risk of conceiving a bastard (lossless FLAC)

FOUL v2.0: the Jesus Lizard '89-'94, remastered

Sorry for the long delay folks, though I guess it's not THAT long.

As we wait for the Recycle blog to post the next installment of the Joy Division series (again, prepared by your humble blogger), I've decided to revisit a (fairly) popular previous post on this very blog.



About a year ago I presented a "best-of", or a taster package, what have you, of that very awesome Chicago band the Jesus Lizard. It was one of the more popular posts here, and suffered through a couple file deletions by the powers that be.

Since that post, the entire Jesus Lizard oeuvre - on legendary Chicago label Touch and Go, that is - has been remastered by none other than Bob Weston and Steve Albini themselves. This is fantastic because both are about as bullshit-free as it gets regarding audio engineering, and both think the modern brickwall mastering style is horseshit (see the "loudness war" links over there on the right).

So when the news came that the tJL catalog was getting the Weston treatment (essentially, all the tracks that the band recorded with Albini) by being remastered at Weston's own Chicago Mastering Service - with Albini overseeing the process, I nearly crapped my pants.

And the wait was very much well worth it.

One of the really fantastic things about this set of remasters is that it gave me the chance to reappraise the band's final Touch and Go album, 1994's Down. I had previously dismissed this record as the weakest one in the bunch - and barely gave it a fair shake. I included tracks from it in my last tJL post just to do so, not because I necessarily liked them all that much. On reappraisal, however - and the improved mastering certainly hasn't hurt - I really love this record. It's not their best record per-se, but it sounds FANTASTIC and there are some stellar songs that need to be heard.

So today I'm posting an updated and expanded version of my prior FOUL compilation - this time, with all tracks from the remastered albums, and expanded to include some of the critical-to-my-ears bonus tracks included with the reissues. Alas, this also necessitated the growth from one CD to two, but hey - who's going to complain when they have more Jesus Lizard to listen to?

So on with it!

the JESUS LIZARD
FOUL v2.0: the Jesus Lizard 89-94, compiled: the remastered editions

See the prior post for the complete illustrated discography.

01 Blockbuster (studio)
02 Chrome
03 One Evening
04 S.D.B.J.
05 My Own Urine
06 If You Had Lips
07 7 vs. 8
08 Waxeater
09 Tight 'N Shiny
10 Then Comes Dudley
11 Mouth Breather
12 Nub
13 Seasick
14 Monkey Trick
15 Lady Shoes
16 Pop Song
17 Wheelchair Epidemic
18 Dancing Naked Ladies (single version)
19 Blockbuster (live 4 Dec. 1992 9:30 Club, Washington DC)

- cd break here -

20 Boilermaker (Idful Studio Sessions demo)
21 Gladiator (Idful Studio Sessions demo)
22 Boilermaker
23 Gladiator
24 Puss
25 Whirl
26 Rope
27 Zachariah
28 Dancing Naked Ladies
29 Glamorous
30 Fly On The Wall
31 Countless Backs Of Sad Losers
32 The Associate
33 Destroy Before Reading
34 Low Rider
35 The Best Parts
36 Panic In Cicero

sources:

1-9 Head/Pure 2009 remastered reissue
10-16 Goat 2009 remastered reissue
19 bootleg soundboard recording
17-18, 20-28 Liar 2009 remastered reissue
29-36 Down 2009 remastered reissue

All tracks originally issued on Touch and Go Records except where noted

1 originally from the EP Pure (1989)
2 originally from 7" single (1990)
3-9 originally from the LP Head (1990)
10-15 originally from the LP Goat (1991)
16 originally from the Dope, Guns and Fucking #7 7" on Amphetamine Reptile (1991)
17-18 originally from 7" single (1992)
20-21 originally from Australian 7" on Insipid (1992)
22-28 originally from the LP Liar (1992)
29 originally from the EP Lash (1993)
30-35 originally from the LP Down (1994)
36 originally from the Clerks soundtrack LP on Sony (1994)

3 RAR files, 320kbps MP3, here!

enjoy!

postpunk on the prairie: the Jesus Lizard

Man, we're on a roll here with the Chicago postpunk, might as well strike again while the iron is hot - with perhaps the best of 'em all...



Today, I bring you the Jesus Lizard. Only the best live band I've EVER seen, bar none.

Vocalist - and I use that term lightly - David Yow fights his way through each song as if he were choking on booze and razor blades. Oddly enough, he's one hell of a nice guy in person, clearly a case of a stage persona vs reality thing. Bassist David Wm. Sims (who's blog I have linked to on the right) muscles each song forward with some of the best bass playing I've ever heard, guitarist Duane Denison layers each song with sheets/shards of furious - but tasteful - guitars, and drummer Mac McNeilly (the heart and soul of the band) anchors it all down with, again, some of the greatest drumming I've ever heard.

So yeah, they're pretty good.

Formed in Chicago in 1989 from the remnants of Steve Albini's Rapeman project (Sims) and Austin, Texas legendary punk act Scratch Acid (Yow and Sims), the Lizard began relatively inauspiciously with the 3-men-and-a-drum-machine debut EP PURE on Touch and Go. Having taken the drum machine approach as far as it could go, they recruited super drummer man Mac and unleashed the new 4-piece Lizard via a classic 7" single featuring a medley of Chrome songs ("TV as Eyes" and "Abstract Nympho") simply-titled "Chrome", backed with an original track "7 vs. 8".

Then they ran off a series of absolutely fucking stellar/devastating/ridiculously amazing/fantastic records on Touch and Go through 1993, and then began a slow gradual slide into irrelevance after signing to a major label in 1995, ultimately breaking up in 1999 after earlier losing drummer Mac to other projects (he was replaced by former Laughing Hyenas drummer Jim Kimball for the last couple years of the Lizard's life). 1994's DOWN was their final Touch and Go LP before jumping ship, and I don't know if the separation had already begun between tJL/Albini/T&G but it really sounds like the last LP of an era.

More tJL info here, here and here (official Touch and Go page about 'em).

All their Touch and Go output was recorded by the legendary Steve Albini, who, being the indie purist he is, refused to work with them again after they signed to the major label Capitol Records.

The latest news - "latest" being a relative term, of course, when Jesus Lizard news was few and far between until a month ago - is that the Lizard is reuniting with the original lineup (Yow/Denison/Sims/McNeilly) to play a few gigs in the fall. Oh how I'd pull my own Tight 'n Shiny to see those gigs!

Changing it up a bit here, rather than posting entire album(s), I'm going to compile the greatest tJL compilation ever. We're going to flat-out ignore the Capitol Records era, and focus exclusively on their indie years on Touch and Go 1989-1994, and better yet, I'm going to do it chronologically.

Here's a quick Touch and Go-era discography hit, we'll get to our exclusive compilation below....

- - - - -

1989: PURE (EP) T&GLP#43



Blockbuster / Bloody Mary / Rabid Pigs / Starlet / Happy Bunny Goes Fluff-Fluff Along


1990: CHROME (7") T&G#53



Chrome / 7 vs. 8


1990: HEAD (LP) T&GLP#54



One Evening / S.D.B.J. / My Own Urine / If You Had Lips / 7 vs. 8 / Pastoral / Waxeater / Good Thing / Tight 'N Shiny / (None Other Than) Killer McHann


1991: MOUTH BREATHER (7") T&G#66



Mouth Breather / Sunday You Need Love


1991: GOAT (LP) T&GLP#68



Here Comes Dudley / Mouth Breather / Nub / Seasick / Monkey Trick / Karpis / South Mouth / Lady Shoes / Rodeo in Joliet


1992: WHEELCHAIR EPIDEMIC (7") TG087



Wheelchair Epidemic / Dancing Naked Ladies


1992: LIAR (LP) TG100



Boilermaker / Gladiator / The Art of Self Defense / Slave Ship / Puss / Whirl / Rope / Perk / Zachariah / Dancing Naked Ladies


1993: PUSS / OH, THE GUILT (split single with Nirvana) TG083



Puss (the Jesus Lizard) / Oh, The Guilt (Nirvana)


1993: LASH (EP) TG121



Glamorous / Deaf As A Bat / Lady Shoes / Killer McHann / Bloody Mary / Monkey Trick
(tracks 3-6 live)


1993: (FLY) ON (THE WALL) (7") TG128



(Fly) On (The Wall) / White Hole


1994: DOWN (LP) TG131



Fly On The Wall / Mistletoe / Countless Backs Of Sad Losers / Queen For A Day / The Associate / Destroy Before Reading / Low Rider / 50¢ / American BB / Horse / Din / Elegy / The Best Parts

- - - - - - - -

Enough background.....

FOUL
the Jesus Lizard 1990-1994, Compiled
(a Power of Independent Trucking exclusive)

Part I
Part II



01 Blockbuster (live soundboard recording 4 December 1992, 9:30 Club, Washington, DC - far better live than the 3-piece studio version)
02 Chrome
03 One Evening
04 S.D.B.J.
05 My Own Urine
06 If You Had Lips
07 7 vs. 8
08 Waxeater
09 Tight 'N Shiny
10 Then Comes Dudley
11 Mouth Breather
12 Nub
13 Seasick
14 Monkey Trick
15 Wheelchair Epidemic
16 Boilermaker
17 Gladiator
18 Whirl
19 Rope
20 Dancing Naked Ladies
21 Glamorous
22 Destroy Before Reading
23 Low Rider
24 The Best Parts

This compilation just plain rips. If there's enough demand I can post the individual records, but they're all still in print (the albums, that is) on Touch and Go, and there are plans afoot to issue remastered editions (and, from what I've heard, remastered the right way by none other than Shellac's Bob Weston) before the year is out.

5 songs: Chicago-area bands

Besides the recurring "variations on a theme" theme I've got going that spotlights various key indie producers/engineers, another idea I had was to do a random, recurring "5 songs" list of 5 songs that represent some particular theme. Sort of inspired by High Fidelity but not.

We'll kick it off with 5 songs by Chicago-area artists that aren't Smashing Pumpkins. I'm stretching Chicago to mean from Champaign on north to the Wisconsin border.



The most difficult bit here is picking 5 songs from about 30 artists to choose from! So this particular 5 Songs, Chicago edition may end up having multiple sub-postings.

On with it, no particular order...

In retrospect, this list is actually 5 songs by Chicago artists recorded by Steve Albini. Perhaps the next 5 Songs, Chicago edition segment will feature 5 songs by Chicago artists, NOT recorded by Steve Albini. Or perhaps not.

-------------------

TAR / "Short Trades"



(from the 1990 Amphetamine Reptile LP Jackson, recorded by Steve Albini)

DeKalb, IL's finest export that's not named Cindy Crawford. These guys were known in the "scene" for their custom-built alumininum guitars, and at their last show (at Lounge Ax in 1995/1996 or so) they auctioned the guitars off to audience members (really!).

--------------------

SILKWORM / "That's Entertainment"



(from the 2000 Touch And Go LP Lifestyle, recorded by Steve Albini)

Longtime friends of Steve Albini, this band (originally formed in Missoula, MT in 1987 before ultimately relocating to Chicago in the 90s) plays just good, propulsive indierock with touchpoints Neil Young and Minutemen evident throughout. Unfortunately, drummer Michael Dalquist (along with two others) was killed in a car accident in July 2005, caused by a woman attempting to commit suicide. The band essentially ended then.

--------------------

the JESUS LIZARD / "Dancing Naked Ladies"



(from the 1992 Touch And Go LP Liar, recorded by Steve Albini)

A piledriving, massive, explosive attack of a song. It grabs you by the throat, swings you around and slams you onto the floor. You better shake it off.... David Yow is perhaps the most unique singer ever, at least in indierock annals.

--------------------

SHELLAC of NORTH AMERICA / "Canada"



(from the 1996 Touch And Go LP Terraform, recorded by Albini/Weston/Trainer)

We ought to name a song after you, call it Canada. Imagine a country so blue, backwards it's adanac. A delightful tribute to our neighbors up North.

--------------------

POSTER CHILDREN / "Water"



(from the 1991 Twin/Tone LP Daisychain Reaction, recorded by Steve Albini)

Loud guitars, amazing drum sounds, tight dynamics, the summation of the Albini sound is right here. And a damn good song as well - many believe that this record is the Poster Children's finest hour, including myself. Champaign/Urbana must be proud...


-------------------- SPECIAL BONUS SECTION!!! --------------------


Since we're talking Chicago-area acts recorded by Steve Albini, how can we forget Rockford's very own Cheap Trick???

CHEAP TRICK / "Hello There"



(from the unreleased re-recorded In Color album sessions, recorded in 1997 by Steve Albini)
(sorry for the mp3 lineage, if I find better I'll upload a new link)

This RAWKS!

From the internets:
The background (as far as I know) is this: Back in the late 90s Steve Albini produced a record for Cheap Trick. While in the studio, they got to talking about how In Color fell short, in their minds, sonically. On the spot, they decided to re-record every song (along with a few extras) from the classic album.

Here's a little more info from Rick Nielsen:

As for the re-recorded Albini In Color album, "we haven't made any plans for it, but we didn't record it for a joke," he quips. "We didn't go at it trying to come up with crazy new arrangements, but sonically we never liked In Color. The songs were good, but sonically it's wimpy and we're not wimpy. We left before it got mixed and were told 'We'll fix it in the mix' by our record company (back then) and our ex-manager. Well, they went the other way," Nielsen says finishing his thought.

So this has never seen any official release, which is too bad because it's a great album.