Customer Reviews

Mission of Dead Souls

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dark, fierce , paranoid and extremely scary. If this doesn't sound like the album for you then continue elsewhere . If it is however you are in luck. This was to be the final concert that Throbbing Gristle would play under the moniker Throbbing Gristle before disbanding into Psychic TV, Coil and other such projects.

The music here is blurred on first listen. This is due to the fact that the concert was recorded on tape and the sound resembles much more a chainsaw blurting it's terrible noise and Genesis P-Orridge's moaning drones and yelps make it seem like some guy's head has been decapitated. Unfriendly at best. What probably makes it even more bizarre is that you can hear what the crowd are saying. Now usually that's nothing more than chanting the band's name but TG go further. They make it sound like people have come to the slaughterhouse to see who the next victim is. And they talk about their daily routines as well. I think if I had have been there I might have just stumbled outside for a minute just to regain some sort of consciousness out of this nausea.

Now that I've given it repeated listens it's easier to hear the music and it's almost numbed out the paranoid feelings I had about this album. But I have to admit for a band like TG to make me feel so paranoid as that and make me envision music that extreme is something unique. This album is not for everyone, easily so, but those who like their music extreme and freakish will definitely enjoy this album

This CD is a recording of the final live performance of Throbbing Gristle in San Francisco, 1981. Source was likely a fan's audio cassette. However sound quality here is very acceptable. Best described as mutated industrial. Tunes here I thought carried their own were "Guts On The Floor", "Looking For The Oto", the out-there "Persuasion U.S.A." and "Discipline". Fans of Chrome, Helios Creed, Front 242 and Suicide should really love this archive release. Recommended.

This is the final 'official' release by Throbbing Gristle, originally only included as part of a 5-LP boxed set released in the early 80s. Later, this 'limited' release saw reissue as a single LP. At this point in TG's work, the fun was all over except for the last noise as required by contract, and that's pretty much what's going on here. Recorded in the audience at their final concert in San Francisco, the audio quality of this album is rather dodgy, as is some of the material. However, there are moments of wild brilliance, notably 'Spirits Flying' and the closer, 'Discipline'. But this isn't even up to the par of some of their other 'bootleg' concert recordings. One for completists.

I am amending the below review, which was previous. I have recently found videos of this live TG performance on youtube, and I have to wonder why the sound quality is actually superior on this old vhs that somebody put up there. I think maybe TG did not like some aspect of this recording after they made it. One has to wonder, "why is Discipline only reprised, and the song itself removed from the album?" I don't even know, but TG LIVE AT KEZAR has all the songs, with more in-between song moments and lyrics you can actually understand. No, I think they either chose to put out an intensely rough LO FI recording, or they did not like their last performance and so turned REVERB up to full power. The crystal clear version on youtube-- I love them!
----------Read on if you want me to tell you to buy a record player.
If you even want to hear this album's content, it's worth buying a turntable and finding the record. I had this CD for a year, listening off and on and just plain uninterested in it... but the record... MAMA MIA! Dat'sa my Greestle!
A lot more beat-driven, heavier pounding and clacking sounds... that guy is right, very Psychic TVish and full of crowd banter... near the end, I'm pretty sure a drug deal is going down-- there's a quiet moment onstage and you can hear some guy saying "we don't have it here! We have to go get it! Come on, ---" The LP is this:
-more screechy
-less fuzzy
-more distinct (somehow, the individual contributions to the whole soundscape are easier to assess)
- more fun to watch a record spin than to watch a digital second-counter!

Not "the last" , as TG have recently reformed for live and studio work, but definately the end of an era. The best - and most subversive - thing about this decidedly lo-fi recording is the fact that audience members can be clearly heard talking during the quieter moments, and you'd be surprised ( or maybe not ) at some of the things they say. Vocalist Genesis P-Orridge sounds somewhat tired, almost defeated, on some tracks - maybe he knew it was the end of the road for TG - but the sound of the band is as powerful as you would expect. Not the first live TG to buy ( get the "live-in-the-studio" Heathen Earth instead ) but a worthy addition to round out your collection.