Psychic Powerless Another Ma [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Butthole Surfers | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 3, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Latino Bugger Veil
• ASIN: B00000IL21
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,402 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It takes only seconds to realize that Psychic... Powerless took everything one step further in 1985. Hardcore wasn't a genuinely relevant context for the Butthole Surfers' first full-length, nor was noise, experimental improvisation, or any sibling, cousin, or neighbor of rock & roll. Psychic... Powerless just took everything, including a compelling sense of postpunk music as a premise for extreme (and often very funny) drama, and mashed it together under Paul Leary's unshaped guitar. Gibby Haynes's Texas wail perked up with his free-verse associations over the guitar and bass and the roiling, repetitive drums, and the whole thing sounded like brilliance. Lest one think it came from a graduate-school course in postmodernism, it warrants pointing out that the Buttholes were genuinely as mad as their sounds; they ratcheted up the temperature on their experiments and LSD-drenched road shows over the course of their next several albums (Rembrandt Pussyhorse, Hairway to Steven, and Locust Abortion Technician). But Psychic... Powerless remains a towering achievement--or a tunneling achievement, digging under the skin for a fully visceral impact that sticks to the ribs like nothing else from the 1980s' postpunk panoply. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Butthole Surfers at their creative best, July 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Psychic Powerless Another Ma (Audio CD)

From 1982 to the present, the Butthole Surfers have gone through many changes in their musical style. "Brown Reason to Live" and "Live PCPPEP" are both amazing albums, but if you want to hear what the Butthole Surfers were really all about, get "Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac." On this album, the Surfers spew up 11 catchy and quirky songs full of insane guitar work by Paul Leary, Jeff Pinkus' drunken bass lines, King Coffey and Teresa's clever percussion, and Gibby Haynes' edgy singing. Forget about "Electric Larryland," get "Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac." And while you're at it, get all of the Butthole Surfers' work that has just been re-released on Latino Bugger Veil Records.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unfettered Creativity....truly impressive., November 8, 2003

By 

Walsh - See all my reviews

This review is from: Psychic Powerless Another Ma (Audio CD)

I used to find many BS tunes too obtuse to explore. As a result I dismissed them as yet another in a long string of publicity seeking 2nd rate carneys in the Punk/Hardcore genre.

This album however is so tight, and it is obvious the band had complete control over all resources devoted to this enterprise. The result is a sharp, pointed composition that gets your attention within 30 seconds.

This is a top ten "Must Own" in any hardcore collection.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Negro Observer? Yes!, September 13, 2002

By 

chrisjh (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Psychic Powerless Another Ma (Audio CD)

Any record with a song about big & strong space aliens who like to watch black people is, in my book, a classic.