The Jesus Lizard — Head/Pure [reissue]

By the time The Jesus Lizard formed, lead screamer David Yow and David Wm. Sims had already done time in the short-lived but highly influential Scratch Acid. Sims also played in Rapeman, Steve Albini's post-Big Black noise act, so expectations were no doubt high.

Head was the Chicago quartet's first full-length, and while it doesn't quite match the highs the band would subsequently reach, all the group's trademarks are here: the snaking rhythm section that drove the band, the howling guitar leads cutting over top like a razor and, of course, Yow's murderous vocal wails. Lead track "One Evening," in particular, would become the band's blueprint on subsequent records.

Pure, an EP recorded before drummer Mac McNeilly was recruited, was long ago tacked onto the end of the band's debut. The band play with a drum machine instead and sound like a gothed up Public Image Ltd. Although the songs stand up on their own, they do sound a bit disjointed sequenced after Head's 10 tracks.

Further blemishing the album's flow on this reissue are a pair of live tracks and their medley of Chrome covers appropriately titled "Chrome" that was previously only available on the Bang compilation. Of course, if it comes down to not having these tracks in the name of flow, we'll still take them any day.

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