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Pure/Head - 75/100
Goat - 94/100
Liar - 80/100
Down - 61/100
Best of Jesus Lizard catalog gets deluxe-reissue treatment
In certain shadowy circles of the rock ’n’ roll universe, The Jesus Lizard are The Beatles. And despite the fact that All Music Guide’s entry on the former begins, “Willfully abrasive and atonal...” and that the latter wrote scores of catchy ditties that are etched into our collective psyche, the bands have more in common than one might imagine, especially in terms of influence. Of course, this wasn’t always so. “It’s pretty weird that there are no bands like The Jesus Lizard around anymore,” Pitchfork’s Brent DiCrescenzo began his review of rarities/singles collection, Bang, in 2000. “...The absence of cacophonous, piss-drinking, steel-chewing rock sums up the current climate. Young musicians seem hesitant to frighten and discomfort.” He has a point. Or did, at least, at the time.
Indeed, The Jesus Lizard made subsequent groups classified under the increasingly useless umbrella of “indie rock” look and sound like whimpering newborns, tinkering with instruments containing too many strings, staring into the middle distance and ruffling absolutely no one. After all, this is a band—along with the Butthole Surfers, Royal Trux, Sonic Youth, et al—whose music fits into a subgenre known as pigfuck, a term initially coined as a pejorative by Robert Christgau. (Go ahead: It’s a safe-for-work Google.) Which is to say, you won’t see Grizzly Bear opening any dates on The Jesus Lizard’s current reunion tour.
Given all of the above, it may surprise some to find out that the group’s influence is actually quite pervasive. Bands creating excellent rock records in recent years, bands such as Mclusky and Pissed Jeans, though unique in their own ways, owe a clear debt to Jesus Lizard. Which answers—along with the reunion—the “Why now?” of Touch and Go’s remastered reissues of the band’s finest material.
Following the 1987 disbanding of Yow and bassist David Wm. Sims’ previous band, Texas noisemongers Scratch Acid, Yow moved to Chicago to play bass in a band with former Cult Cargo guitarist Duane Denison. As the story goes, Yow realized he didn’t play bass very well, and brought Sims, who had been playing with Steve Albini (more on him in a moment) in Rapeman. With the aid of a drum machine (soon to be replaced by ferocious stickman Mac McNeilly), on their debut EP Pure, the nexus of The Jesus Lizard was formed.
Starting with Pure (which is now paired with the reissue of debut full-length Head), the Touch and Go reissues comprehensively cover the essential Jesus Lizard, especially as far as non-obsessives will be concerned. Each of these four deluxe packages comes with previously unreleased photos, plus liner notes from the bandmates and the writers who watched them develop. The remastering—led by Bob Weston and aided by Albini (who produced all of the band’s T&G material before acrimoniously parting ways when they signed to a major label) using his original studio notes—is well-executed and crisp. Live tracks, goofy covers and outtakes also abound.
But words can’t quite capture how Goat—as far as records go—really is one of the Greatest Of All Time, a designation that suggests its name was either a) not accidental or b) prophetic. And words can’t quite capture what an astounding, oft-incomprehensible and terrifying frontman Yow is—perhaps best approximated in print by Michael Azerrad in Our Band Could Be Your Life: “Yow sounds like a kidnap victim trying to howl through the duct tape over his mouth.”
A strange mystique surrounds The Jesus Lizard and the four LPs these four bandmates put out on Touch and Go over a span of four years, each album with a four-letter title. Perhaps it’s the same mystique that draws so many new artists to their sound 20 years later—the same mystique, perhaps, that led (fun-fact alert!) Kevin Smith to ask them to contribute a song to Clerks. Indeed, The Jesus Lizard’s story is filled with this kind of unassailable, inborn coolness that’s impossible to pinpoint but also impossible to miss. And it’s a story told in full by these reissues—a story of four young lads who made seismic music that still resonates years after their heyday. A lot like The Beatles, when you think about it.
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I remember when Yow was kicked out of a venue for wearing a black diaper that fell off. Good stuff.
Thanks for the kind review, Austin. You've got a few facts wrong here, though:
1. Duane, David, and I started the band in Austin before the three any of us moved to Chicago.
2. "Pure" is combined with "Head" on the remastered CDs, but is released as a separate EP on vinyl, as was the case with the original releases.
3. There was a rift that developed between the band and Albini around the time we signed to a major label, but it wasn't because we signed to a major label. Think about it for a second: he's recorded albums for Bush, Nirvana, and Helmet, and others, for major labels. The major label explanation doesn't hold water. For a variety of reasons, we decided while recording "Down" that we were going to use another producer on the next record. This was before we had decided to leave Touch & Go. Some of the reasons had to do with the way the last couple of records sounded, others were more personal. Albini, master of self-promotion that he is, spun getting fired into the Brave Stand for the Indie Kids. Gotta hand it to him, it was genius.
Again, thanks for the props.
Best regards,
David Wm. Sims
Not to get all tit-for-tatty, but I haven't ever said to anyone, public or private, that I stopped working with the Jesus Lizard because they left T&G. David remembers the end of our working relationship accurately, though the bit about me promoting myself can blow me. I basically didn't utter a word pertaining to the Jesus Lizard for the next few years after they made the corporate leap, which was just the consummation of a swing toward "professionalism" or something like it the band had undertaken.
It was evident from their dealings and the people they chose to work with that they were changing teams. Though they might pretend they were never part of a unified, cooperative underground culture, they certainly behaved like everyone who was, and benefited from the structures and people who identified with it. It isn't overstating it to say that when they turned that corner I was in a kind of mourning.
For the record, the resuscitated Jesus Lizard is just as good as the regular old everyday one from the early 90s, and pretty much destroys any other band working right now. They have been playing brilliantly and blowing minds anew, and I hope they wring the sponge and get everything they can out of this revival.
There is no need for tit-for-for tat. Honestly, I meant the self-promotion crack as a compliment. I didn't mean to give offense, and apologize for any taken.
As I'm sure you're aware, the assertion that you stopped working with the Jesus Lizard because we signed to Capitol is one of the most repeated items about the band out there. I haven't tried it, but I'd wager if you Google "jesus lizard" and "steve albini" together, it will appear somewhere on almost all the results. It has become the conventional wisdom, and I'm gratified that you've set the record straight.
"Professionalism" made me laugh. Thanks!
We haven't ever pretended that we weren't a part of the underground rock scene, although the scene I remember was anything but unified. People helped us and we helped people, and it was an amazing place and time to be. I feel sorry for kids starting band today. We made our decisions for what we believed were the right reasons, sometimes knowing the decisions were going to disappoint some people. Life can be like that.
Thanks for all that about the resuscitated Jesus Lizard. The shows have been a stone-cold gas. And thanks for your and Bob's great work on the remasters.
After seeing the LA show I went home and bought tickets to 6 more shows. The band is just too good to miss while they're around.
The black diaper comment above made me choke. Awesome.
I went to ATP and watched the Jesus Lizard two nights in a row. I watched them play the next night in London. I can't even express how amazing every single moment of seeing them play was. The performances were on par with any that I had seen in the 90's.
That being said, I have one small criticism. Being a bass player who has been inspired to play the bass comes, I'll say, directly from watching the Jesus Lizard perform a bunch of shows back in the day and witnessing David Wm. Sims's playing style, the sheer power, simplicity, tact, swing, and inventiveness. That and the pummeling, violent tone, smacking listeners to submission that seemed to be crafted by the combination of his hands, his GK 800RB, and the two 15" speakers in his Jim Dietz cabinet.
I know I'm being such a nerd for even making this comment, but whatever... The Jesus Lizard were brilliant, but I don't think the 8 10" Ampeg cabinet projects quite like the 2 15's did. I wondered if I was imagining it, then I compared a bunch of old Youtube tJL footage with footage of the recent shows. I shit you not, the bass attack is sharper and punchier on the good sounding old videos just like my recollection.
Oh, it doesn't matter. Your reunion shows were everything I hoped for and more.
Wow, The major label explanation doesn't hold water. For a variety of reasons, we decided while recording "Down" that we were going to use another producer on the next record. This was before we had decided to leave Touch & Go, thanx.
Okmulgee Lawyer