Customer Reviews

Pioughd

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have yet to see a review for this album, or any album, that thoroughly praises the guitar genius of Paul Leary. Everyone always seems to focus on the lyrics, but always seem to miss the fact that Paul Leary has gotta be one of the greatest rock guitarists of the day. And this album, along with Independent Worm Saloon, has some of his coolest stuff. Just listen to P.S.Y. for goodness sake. As a whole the album is really great. Not quite as scary as Locust... but that's not a bad thing. It's weird yet listenable. And then there's the "Gary Shandling" lyrics in Revolution... So that's why everyone forgets about Paul Leary!

All I know is that this cover of Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" is hilarious.

The Butthole Surfers lost something with this album. Like the lunacy stepped back and was replaced by that sort of complacent commercialized confusion commonly mistaken as insanity. The sound is more developed here - the production glossier, but not like the later albums where better production is actually embraced. It's between phases for the Surfers, and where they were from and where they were going didn't really mesh well.

please! give this a chance to grow on you, this is not their worst album, that awful ''weird revolution''thing was their worst

however,this is not in their top five best albums that they did

i don't think, why, i even like independent worm saloon more than this, i think ''locust abortion technician'' is their best,

still this is not too bad, they were just mad at how their label

at the time was treating them at the time.

Funny, I don't remember the Beatles ever singing "when I kicked her in the teeth she was out the door, I just know she'll be back for more". Regardless, this is definitely a departure from the holy trinity of Rembrandt Pussyhorse-Locust Abortion Technician-Hairway to Steven, but hell, at least it's not Weird Revolution.

There are some true gems here such as the wonderful "Revolution" parts 1 and 2. not to mention the killer and heavy "Blindman". But I'm afraid there's a lot of filler and dross too, such as "Golden Showers" and the excreble "No, I'm Iron Man" which is essencially an unfunny joke spoken over the top of noise. It grates after only a short while. The various and thankfully short "Lonesome Bulldog" variations are funny in that each one is "worse" and sloppier than the one before it, they act as little vignettes between the longer songs. "Something" played live was much more powerful than on this album, though its still good. P.S.Y. is a tongue in cheek guitar workout by Paul Leary complete with Buttholes blues licks at the end and blues shouting courtesy of Gibby. "Barking Dogs" is a head twisting excursion into noisy psychedelica that by Butthole Surfers standards seems more like a tame or even somewhat conventional afterthought. Though some of the songs are very good, this album just isn't that focused or experimental enough to warrant a higher rating. The Surfers seemed to have reached an uneasy compromise between song oriented material and the crazed instrumental excursions of previous years with the result being one of their most unsatisfying albums. They seem to be almost unsure of themselves, either they tried too hard or not hard enough. Perhaps their lable troubles had something to do with it? I don't know, in any case this set was followed by one of their best: the excellent "Independent Worm Saloon." But their most groundbreaking work was behind them.

In contrast to Diablo above, I absolutely love this album. In fact, I'm listening to it right now, for the second time in a row. This cd will make you laugh and sing along and fall in love with Gibby and the boys all over again. It's hysterical, but musically challenging, too (whatever that means). Their cover of Hurdy Gurdy Man is one of my absolute all time favorite songs. Get the cd. You won't be disappointed.

Come for the colossal cover of Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man and stay for the machine gun fire of Barking Dogs. In between crank the fark out of everything else here, slap happy and trippy instrumentals and all--these ain't filler, they're killer. Plus Gibby dementedly name-checking Garry Shandling? Priceless. Ditto the down and dirty groove of Golden Showers. And then of course there's the stupendous P.S.Y. which is a seriously squalling sonic slow burn over 12 glorious minutes and quite frankly way better than a bacon butty on a wet Saturday afternoon in a Welsh mining village. Unfairly maligned by terminally tedious true believers, this is a bona fide Surfers album complete with crunch factor nine. Even the wacky passport photos of the boys on the back are a larf.

I've liked everything 'The Surfers' have put out. Maybe I'm not as judgmental as some, but I think this disc is wonderful. I think 'Weird Revolution' might be their best album, it's a maturity thing I guess. But I like 'Rembrandt Pussyhorse' as well. But back to 'piouhgd', tracks 2, 3, 5, & 6 make it worth it on it's own. 'Revolution pt. II' is full of, I think fellow Texan names, 'Lonesome Bulldog' has the hilarious Kennedy tie-in, and 'The Hurdy Gurdy Man' cover is well done. I think 'Golden Showers' is a terrific track. Maybe some of the other tracks are not up to standards, but I love the fotos.....typical 'Surfers' !! ****+

If you like early Butthole Surfers and you've never heard this one, you will love it. It's pretty much just like the Widowermaker! EP only with 2 sort of goofball, parody tracks which to me are very avant garde and I don't mind them. I speak of Lonesome Bulldog and Golden Showers, the first of which is a mock country ballad with some perverse lyrics. Golden Showers I really really like though, it's like a psychadellic honky tonk and it's got Gibby's Sax in it so in a way it's reminicent of much older BHS, but I know alot of people will disagree with me but give this one a chance.

This album is pretty much a product of the Widowermaker! Pioughd Jeff Pinkus Butthole Surfers Era right as Theresa was getting ready to leave, and right after she left. It was a very psychadellic era for the surfers and it was also a time where the band was going through some very BIG changes and trying to make their music work with just 1 drummer instead of 2, which is one of the reasons people dislike this album and think it's different, but it's not. It's just like Hairway to Steven except with 1 drummer instead of 2, and to me this is the real final surfers album before the major change took place and they went into the studio to record Worm Saloon, which was a major step in a different direction, but still excellent and rocking in my opinion ( I think their first stinker was Electric Larryland ). Take it from me though, Worm Saloon was the first " Different " butthole surfers record, not Pioughd. Pioughd still has all the same sound as Hairway to steven and Rembrandt Pussyhorse. The only difference is the absence of one drummer. Revolution 1 and 2 are two of my favorite BHS songs. Part 2 is just like the first song from Hairway to steven with the sounds going in the background. Blindman, Hurdy Gurdy Man, Something ( which is either a parody or ripoff of the Jesus and Mary Chain ) and the psychadellic 8 minute " Barking Dogs " are more than worth it. Buy this album today. Trust me

Official "bridge" album between the old, dirty-sounding BHS of the Latino Buggerveil days and their newer, more polished stuff, "Pioughd" will most likely annoy older fans like myself with the lack of double drumming and hard-edge experimentation and confuse newer fans used to the electronica of "Weird Revolution" and pop-lite of "Pepper".

The Surfers were unhappy with this album. They apparently were not treated well by Rough Trade, who folded right after releasing Pioughd. The CD feels rushed and sloppy, something you never find in a BHS release.

There are a few good songs, but too many feel overly conventional or strangely miscalculated. It's like the band's rhythm was off somehow.

All the Lonesome Bulldog variations are filler that should never have made it into the album. The cover of Hurdy Gurdy Man would be great if it weren't for the annoying vocals (one of the strange miscalculations). The Revolution songs are conventional and feel dashed off.

Blindman is one of the better songs, with crunching vocals and guitar work. No, I'm Iron Man is a bad joke that wears out its welcome after a few seconds. The version of Something is overly lite, but not bad. PSY is good, with great Leary guitar work, but it goes on waaay too long. Barking Dogs, which appears in a stripped-down version as Space II on "Humpty Dumpty LSD" is actually the best track on the album. It's a weird freak out number with (you guessed it) barking dog sounds and a preacher intoning "Brothers and sisters" at various speeds.

All in all, I would recommend this only for BHS completists.