Customer Reviews

Head (Deluxe Remastered Reissue)

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This remastered version of Head and Pure sounds great. It pops! The Jesus Lizard, of course, are one noisy band, and this CD is meant to be played loud. Pure was their first EP, and Head was their first full-length album. Classic material that sounds better today than it ever did. Some people feel Head is the best Jesus Lizard album, and they might be right. But you should also check out the other remastered discs -- Goat, Down, and especially Liar (Deluxe Remastered Reissue). This CD is especially interesting because there's stuff here that sounds like nothing else they recorded. A song like "Blockbuster" is totally unique and memorable. It stays with you. Highly recommended.

Head is the sound of getting wrapped up in a headlock by a deranged madman while he repeatedly punches you in the gut. This remastered Head/Pure release really is quite something, a bruising, eminently replayable set of songs which still sound as vital as ever. As the inside cover says: 'For the most part, a good time was had by all.' Who am I to argue with that?

"Head," of the four Touch And Go releases, really benefits the most from being remastered -- and maybe this is obvious, since it's the oldest and documents the band still forming their signature sound and honing their songwriting. But the sound really jumps out! Opening track "One Evening" has some vocal growls and other sounds in it I had never noticed before. It's great to hear this seminal record with so much texture and depth.

As with the previous CD version, the "Pure" E.P. (which predates drummer Mac McNeilly; the band instead relies on an Alessis drum machine to supply their stuttering rhythms) is bundled together with "Head." "Pure" was the bands actual debut, with its slightly electronic/clinical studio sheen giving quite a different listening experience to live favorites like "Bloody Mary" and "Blockbuster."

It could be said that the 3 bonus tracks on "Head" are the slightest offerings of the reissue series, but then no fan should be without the "Chrome" medley, a burning pit of noise with tribal, stomping drums and Duane Denison's razor-like guitar burning out an abrasive proto-punk riff. The other two live tracks were previously available on the "Lash" triple 7-inch, great readings of "Killer McHann" and "Bloody Mary," with McNeilly very present and in fine form.