Welcome to Review Revue, where every Thursday I dig through the KEXP stacks to share DJ reviews and comments written on the covers of LPs (and occasionally CDs) in the ’80s and ’90s, when the station was called KCMU, the DJs were volunteers, and people shared their opinions on little white labels instead of the internet.
It seems Skinny Puppy couldn't get much respect at KCMU in the '80s. Some loved their first full-length, Bites, but it seemed everybody hated Cleanse, Fold, and Manipulate. Between those two releases, we had their second album, with the provocative (and Tipper Gore-baiting) title Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse. And, you know, I get it. If I had been a college DJ in the mid-'80s (or even when I was actually in college, a decade or so later), my eyes would have rolled out of my head just at that title alone. But I do wish the KCMU crew had spent a bit more time with this album and this band. Still, at least one person seemed to think they weren't bad enough not to play? Hey, airplay is airplay, right?
"Key and Ogre bring us another gloomy yet hypnotic journey through the electronic jungle. Great production, if you don't mind the loud mix of the usual 'exhaust pipe' vocals. Most songs hold together very well, and layerings of sound effects keep things interesting. Last cuts on either side long but good. Side 2 is less 'course.'" [Did they mean, 'coarse'?]
"Maggots . . . . uh, well, ain't good - ain't bad, but play it anyway."
"One or two maybe, but they've lost all the 'bite,' + this is just no good."
"They've probably been hanging out with that Severed Heads outfit who wimped out a while ago."
"'One Time One Place' AORsville, no kidding. Whatever happened to DIGIT? Was that a 12" single, or what?"
"'200 years' ain't too exciting or anything. Dull in fact."
"Yup!"
"Skinny yuppies"
"'Love' is OK. It's real short."
This week's Review Revue spotlights the Posies album Failure. See what KCMU DJs thought back in the day.
This week's Review Revue spotlights the Young Fresh Fellows album This One's for the Ladies. See what KCMU DJs thought back in the day.
This week's Review Revue spotlights Solomon Grundy's self-titled album from 1990. See what KCMU DJs thought back in the day.
