Customer Reviews

Pig Pile

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I endorse the comments of the previous reviewer and support his plea for a re-release of Big Black's Pig Pile. When Pig Pile (the CD) was released in Australia you could buy the video for an extra amount. Since my grandmother had died some years earlier, I had nothing to sell to raise the boodle, so I had to make do with just the CD. Since I've never been able to find the video again, I've regretted it ever since. If the company responsible won't re-release the Pig Pile video, is there anyone out there who can find me a copy? For the purposes of a review, the CD at least is frighteningly awesome. I have no doubt the video was anything less.

Okay, if you guys don't re-release this live masterpiece, I'm going to have to duplicate my copy a thousand times and rain it upon the nation as a public service! (No Collector Scum, I!) This is the ultimate live Big Black show, performed as a swan song in the UK in 1987 and full of the jarring, driving, hammering guitar torture modern bands try so hard to ape but can never come close to. But not only that: Albini's distinctly creepy stand-up comedy, an unbelievable gymnastic version of "Dead Billy," lots of audience violence (including a constant stream of fake blood aimed at little Stevie), and the finest performance ever of "Jordan, Minnesota."

Over the ball-crushing vigor of the sound and the confrontational fury of the songs hangs an edgy haze of insecurity--the halo of an age when punk was made by real misfits, and outrage wasn't met with the smug audience comfort of the 90's and 00's. This is a slice of underground rage from the days when this rage was a real and dangerous force. And it still looks and sounds crystal clear.

So please give this sleeping giant a reawakening, and maybe the puny bands of today will get some spirit scared into them. A pummeling, one-of-a-kind testament.

If you've never listened to this you must. To get where this band was then, it is incumbent upon you to listen to this now. Allow your predetermined ideas of how a rock band should sound and operate to be pummelled by this truly great meeting of sound structuralists.

1. Like the sound of Big Black
2. Notice a new tour in the media
3. Fail to notice "last tour" mention
4. Don't go. (Hey, I can always go next year)
5. Wait, what?
6 ........
7. Don't profit.
8. Hear the record.
9. See the record.
10. Cry.
11. A lot.

I have a copy of this on vinyl - the way it was truly meant to be heard. Unbelievably excellent stuff. Good for exorcising unwanted neighbours and family members. The songs were all recorded live at a show in London just before the band broke up - hence the title of this review. I was lucky and managed to get one of the few boxed sets which included this record, a t-shirt, poster, extra 5" record (clear vinyl), and a video of the concert. Track down the video if you can. The album is great, the video even better.

BIG BLACK WERE TOO GOOD TO LAST. STEVE ALBINI & SANTIEGO DURANGO GIVE GUITARS A POWER TOOL TREATMENT WHILE TRADING INSULTS WITH THE CROWD. FEATURES SOME OF THEIR BETTER SONGS. SOME OF THE BEST NOISE YOU WILL EVER HEAR.

I need to get my facts straight on this, but I think this was the final release from Albini's wonderful experiment in sonic violence called Big Black. It was also the first record by them that I discovered in the used bin at my favorite local record store, Trader Vic's in Dayton. Later in Chicago I got hold of the VHS recording of this live concert and it is still holding up as one of my better live show recordings. Either you love this kind of stuff or you hate it, but if you are looking for unique hard rocking greatness, you need to catch up with these guys. My favorite was Roland and however programmed those beats!!