In 1998
came a new chapter in the band's brand of Texas schizo rock. Again on
Germany's September Gurls records but this
time as a sextet. With the added keyboards from Flip Osman and the Saxophone
and 3rd guitar antics of Charlie Naked the band had reached a new high
of madness. The CD has something for everyone, Blue Cheer type cheeze
riffs, Hawkwind space sorties, Sci-fi epics, garage rock sludge, sensitive
60 pop, insane pompous histrionic guitar solos, a gratuitous "secret
bonus improv lo-fi track", trippy mellow jams, Beefheartian skronk,
etc. etc..
Song
Commentary
Hendrix's
Boots
-
The title of this song suggests that "We Are Not Worthy" to
kiss Hendrix's boots, which is really kind of gratuitous as we make that
point abundantly clear in the song itself. The actual lyrics are about
a woman just wearing you out, in every sense of the word.The entire session
was fueled by beer and herb and this first track sets the mood with a
Doors-like raga interplay between Ramon Medina and Clinton Heider punctuated
with heavy Larry Liska powered crescendos.
Sunn
Beta
- Continuing in the tradition of Clinton's hippie songs, the lyrics are
basically about it being too goddamn cold outside. The solo in this number
is an early indication that Clinton is starting to listen to albums other
than Blue Cheer's "Vincebus Eruptum"
Monkey - Here is
the obligatory garage number. Clinton was really hitting his bug, primate,
and drug lyrical peak with this album and this song emphasizes the second
ingredient of the mixture. You cannot hide the monkey inside, you suit
wearing mother-fucker!
Notes:
This song includes cowbell.
Glossary:
James
Hartman - Geeky friend of Ramon when he was growing up in Clear
Lake. His geek powers at one point reached a critical mass which resulted
in him collapsing under the weight of many ELO albums.
Beer,
Women, and Sunflower Seeds -
A Clinton Heider song that graduallyhad more and more little bits added.
There has always been an unspoken pirate element to this sing that occasionally
expresses it self in chants of "Yo Ho Ho" after the chorus. We can't explain
it but I'm sure that this is the kind of thing that Pirates would sing
along the barbary Coast.
The
Great Singularity (the following three songs)
The Colour Out Of Space
- This is probably the high peak of Linus pot songs. The band Channels
Hawkwind, Pink Floyd, A touch of Robby Kreiger, Black Sabbath's into
the Void, HP Lovecraft and Opens the doors of perception! This is part
of the never completed Pot Opus. The narrative takes place on the doomed
planet where the Linus Mournebong Mythos begins.
Interstellar
Absolute Power Bootycall -
A jam centered around a riff by Ramon. This is supposed to represent
the flight of the Bong Planet spaceship across the galaxy.
Dance
of the Bugpeople - Originally released in demo form in
the Untitled Alien LP, this is the full studio version. This concerns
the attack of the bugpeople who terrorized the elders who colonized
the new planet known as Earth.
Insomnia - This is
a song penned by Steve.
La Morte de "Les Amis"
- I can't recall who the author was or whether this was a group thing.
(I think this was mostly a clinton and ramon song) Les Amis was a very
good little restaurant in Austin that sadly closed roughly around the
time of this release. If you buy Richard Linklater's Criterion Edition
of Slacker you will not they they included a 10-Minute trailer for a film
called "Viva Les Amis" by Nancy Higgins - a documentary on the loss of
cool unique places in Austin to "revitalization" in the 90's which brought
generic and ubiquitous corporate stores and chains. Artist Mary Doerr
[http://www.images-austin.com/calendar5.html]
has a painting of the restaurant on her website - It's September in the
calendar.
Cole Porter I - (Unlisted Bonus
Track) - a prelude to "Ashes in the Bong of God". This
Bonus track is totally improvised and any attempts to recreate it lacked
any force that the original had. Thus we put it as a bonus track as it
was kind of outside the Album, plus it's kind of fun to surprise people.
Reviews
"The
leap forward with respect to their already excellent second work is
stunning; if they keep on growing at this pace, sooner or later the
energy released by the Pauling effect will really kill us."
--Enrico Ramunni - Rockerilla (Italia)
"Houston
heroes...return with a killer set that encompasses 10-minute space-jam
explosions, hard rock punk boogie and sax-damaged neo-no wave"
--Fred Mills - Magnet(US)
"If
twisted, heavily distorted guitar psyche is your thing then the LP4
is your band and "Killing you..." is nirvana!""
-- Crohinga Well(Belgium)
"...possibly
the most enigmatic yet bombastic rock band to emerge out of Texas
inthe last 10 years."
--Mats Gustafsson & Lee Jackson - The
Broken Face(Sweden)
and,
just for balance, here's the one negative review we've recieved.
"...While
full of youthful energy, lacks the poise and polish to expand their
noteriety much beyond their faithful local followers." "
-- Ken Voss - Voodoo Child a Jimi
Hendrix fanzine (US)
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