Wednesday 20 August 2008

BABES IN TOYLAND – PAINKILLERS (SOUTHERN RECORDS)


BABES IN TOYLAND – PAINKILLERS (SOUTHERN RECORDS)

I bought this mid price album one day with the last few coins in my pocket.  It was a used copy from Time Records in Colchester and thus I was able to afford it.  And as a result I had to forgive and forget the creased booklet.

When I discovered real music I must concede much of my education came from MTV, which back in the early 90s actually played videos that actually featured real people playing real instruments and making real music.  The flagship show was always 120 Minutes and for a young newbie it representing a world that was terrifying.  The acts were scary and so were the people that liked it.  At the time grunge was breaking and thus this music was somewhat more salient to the audience than any other era past or present.  And during the daily advertisement for the weekly edition of 120 Minutes Babes In Toyland would feature singing “He’s My Thing” being somewhat representative of Riot Grrrl and revolution.  I heard that clip of the song for what felt a million times.  I was hooked.

“He’s My Thing” is the lead track on this mini album cum live album.  Following hot on the heels of the successful Fontanelle it is five studio tracks followed by an eleven song live set recorded at CBGBs in New York in April 1992 entitled Fontanellette which I suspect may have been from where the live footage of the “Bruise Violet” video was taken from.  And “He’s My Thing” is quite the relation to “Bruise Violet”, very similar in execution and a proper punk onslaught from the band.

All in all this is a release that doesn’t make much sense coming so close to the release of Fontanelle.  Was it belief that the band was so hot at that moment there was a decent buck to be made?  Was the material considered THAT good it would be wrong not to release it?  Or was it some kind of get out of contract act/obligation?

Moving on with the studio efforts “Laredo” contains a literary reference in the form of a nod to Tra La La from Last Exit To Brooklyn while “Istigkeit” serves as something of a trademark angry Bjelland lullaby that inevitably speeds towards oblivion.  And with that “Ragweed” featuring Lori on vocals is lumbering involving some kind of avant garde break for declaration while “Angel Hair” offers escape in a trademark Babes In Toyland vehicle which sits comfortable with everything else they do.  This is their sound.

And on the subject of sound the live recording is very good, very solid.  CBGBs always had a good recording system in place and I know other bands that recorded live albums there.

Kicking off with “Bruise Violet” (obviously) here is a band that sounds like their record suggesting that either Fontanelle managed to capture this live sound or that they were a dull live act.  I prefer to think the former.

From here Bjelland screams and gurns her way through proceedings as Lori thumps away as both elements perhaps serve to dilute the might of the guitar offering something of a subtly more whimsical take on proceedings.

By the time the band is playing “Magick Flute” they have royally warmed up and as the echoed trauma of “Real Eyes” fills the venue it offers an uneasy sensation.  Then in the aftermath Lori adds a disturbing drunk mantra which I still remember clearly from the night I saw them in Colchester.

Soon they are lashing out with “Spun” before it all ends with an uncompromising pairing of “Mother” and “Handsome & Gretel”, two songs that truly define the band.

It’s a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live here.

Thesaurus moment: dessert.

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