Reissue of the first studio album by the Meat Puppets, originally released in 1982.
“The album was recorded in three to four days. There are very few overdubs on the album, and many of the tracks are first takes. Like other early SST albums the sound quality is rather spotty; there is noticeable fuzz in the background of the music. The band opted for this because they felt more comfortable recording live with only a few microphones rather than employing conventional studio separation techniques. In 1999, Curt Kirkwood stated, “The first [album] was our LSD record. We were three days in the studio, and we tripped the whole time. And it was really cool, and really trying, too, because we went insane.”The original pressing of the 12″ album is engineered to be played back at 45 rpm.”
“Although the Meat Puppets would later become best known for their intriguing blend of country, punk, rock, folk, psychedelia, and whatever else they could toss in their musical blender, the trio’s 1982 self-titled full-length debut was a furious hardcore album. Totally ferocious and red hot, the album rarely lets up on its full-throttle attack — Curt Kirkwood’s vocals bear little resemblance to the wasted, off-key country-rock warbling on such seminal releases as Meat Puppets II and Up on the Sun; instead, the singing style consists of larynx-shredding screaming that renders the lyrics incomprehensible. Still, there’s something special about such slop-rockers as “Love Offering,” “Blue-Green God,” “Saturday Morning,” and “Our Friends.” And as a sign of things to come, for a few brief fleeting moments, the band attempts to conquer country (on covers of “Walking Boss” and “Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds”). ~ Greg Prato
Tracklist:
A1 Reward
A2 Love Offering
A3 Blue-Green God
A4 Walking Boss
A5 Melons Rising
A6 Saturday Morning
A7 Our Friends
B1 Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds
B2 Milo, Sorghum, And Maize
B3 Meat Puppets
B4 Playing Dead
B5 Litterbox
B6 Electromud
B7 The Gold Mine
Label: Meat Puppets Music
Barcode: 0020286242505
