Head of David is one of those unique bands whose sound is difficult to catalogue, usually described as an industrial rock / stoner band. These are all the Peel session they recorded and you can really hear the band maturing until their third session, composed solely from songs from their "Dustbowl"album, where the band reached it's creative peak. Every record they've released is (sadly) very difficult to find, but when you hear them, you can't help recognise that they were at least a decade ahead of their time.
Peel Session - 24.01.1986
01. Snuff Rider M.C.
02. Joyride Burning X
03, Shadow Hills California
04. Newly Shaven Saint
Peel Session - 23.09.1986
05. Jack Nicholson
06. Pierced All Over
07. Metal Texas Psych Out
Peel Session - 07.07.1987
08. Tequila
09. Snake Domain
10. Skin Drill
11. Bugged
Peel Session - 28.05.1989
12. Moonshine
13. Caprice
14. Wildweed
15. Snake Hands Forever
headdavidpeel
Thank you. This is gold indeed. "Dustbowl" was always one of my favourite albums.
ReplyDeleteOh hell yes. I already had half of this on 'White Elephant', but this more than doubles the goodies.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting and explains a lot. I just realized that the first four of these tracks are also on 'CD' a.k.a. 'LP', while tracks 5–11 are on 'White Elephant'.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the remaining four I've never heard before in my life. They're a RADICAL departure from their Doors-influenced (and Ministry-influencing) droning punk-metal. That signature sound (which developed completely independently in the UK from the US "stoner-metal" or "desert rock" scene to which they get compared sometimes, and is also free of electronics, so isn't "industrial" in the modern sense). This band was clearly influenced by Big Black, harder Killing Joke, Sonic Youth, and classic metal like Sabbath. (That said, a few of the vocals sound a bit like Chris Connelly, so one wonders who's influencing whom.)
Tracks 12–15 on this boot are nothing like this material at all, but desperately commercial-hopeful "party rock" pop-metal, like much of the Cult's less interesting output. It's apeing all kinds of late hair-metal, like Guns & Roses, Warrant, etc. It bears almost no resemblance to their earlier material, other than in the use of repetitive lyrics and riffs on some tracks. Sounds like a completely different vocalist. This may explain why the band disappeared shortly after this – an attempt to sell out/cash in that flopped.
Anyway, if you don't have ready access to 'CD' and 'White Elephant', this is worth a listen. "Shadow Hills California" is great, kind of "what if Jim Morrison had a bad hangover and was partying with punk-ass metalheads". The post-hardcore "Snuff Rider" reminds me of the FLA side project Will, filtered through Rollins Band. The version of "Skindrill" here is nifty – a percussive post-punk approach but with some growly and non-growly vocals; much more energetic than the plodding album version on 'Dustbowl'. The version of "Bugged" here is pretty good, too. It's their most Albini-influenced piece; this version is closer to the 'Dustbowl' recording than the 'Saveana Mixes' one. "Metal Texas Psych-Out" is another Doors-y number, but through a deathrock-aware lens.
While the sample rate is only 192k, these all sound pretty good (not very different from the non-bootlegs) other than the muffled last four tracks, which are crap anyway.
Can you please upload this if you have it!?
ReplyDelete