Deathwish

(Live show in Manchester, England 1987)

Track Listing:

The Model
Fists of Love
L Dopa
Passing Complexion
Cables
Bad Penny
Pavement Saw
Kerosene
Steelworker
Pigeon Kill
Fish Fry
Jordan, Minnesota
Big Money
I'm A Mess
Rip

Liner Notes:

It takes a lot to successfully transfer the American nightmare onto vinyl and then sell it to unsuspecting record buyers worldwide. For five years in the mid-eighties, Chicago's noise terrorists Big Black held a mirror to the face of the low-life scumbags who plague America. Powered by an out-of-control drum machine, the three piece turned feedbacking guitars played through a million distortion boxes into a new art form. It was loud, it was ugly, noise, brutal, un-nerving, (experience them live in a confined and overcrowded space and you would'nt sleep for a week), but on the whole, it was the truth. The subject matter matched the corrosive sounds wrenched from their guitars, nobody was meant to be singing about child abuse, illness, bad people with bad lives, the horror of America as the sickness spread. This was music for the apocalyse, the soundtrack to armageddon. Steve Albini, Dave Riley and Santiago Durango also commited the greatest crime in the eyes of the lowlifes from the music industry by splitting up just as the band was reaching its peak. The biggest "Fuck You" in the face of the music scene ever made and a good lesson for any idiots who are thinking of making a "career" out of playing in a punk rock group. No limits, no laws, no heroes, no idols, 'cos someday a real rain's gonna come down and wash all the scum off the streets. Who learnt the lesson given by Big Black?

Professor Stone '93