Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Butthole Surfers

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 3, 1999)
• Original Release Date: 1985
• 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 (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #93,464 in Music (See Bestsellers 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

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

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

By A Customer

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.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars BUTTHOLE GUNG HOE!!!, April 9, 2004

By	Gunther Haagendazs (Up High in the Trees) - See all my reviews

The first full length LP, by the Butthole Surfers is basically along the same line as Brown reason to Live and Live PCPPEP.(...) Here there we have the classic lineup with Gibby, Paul, and King along with Teresa as a second drummer, and is Kings Sister. The most well known bassist, Jeff Pinkus was not in the band at this time. As a matter of fact im not sure who the bassist is but he's pretty good. The cover appears to be a piece of film from a B/W movie with graffiti on it. And the back has what appears to be a child or angel in the clouds (psychedelic!).

Now on with the songs.

1. Concubine: 10/10, this will give pepper fans nightmares, I like singing it in the shower!
2. Eye of the Chicken: 10/10, Pretty much the same quality as concubine, my guess is it was recorded in the same studio. The song is also hilarious, if you can make out what is being said.
3. Dum Dum: 10/10, this is a true punk song, and one of the best examples of the duel drumming. Dead Kennedys fans will rejoice! I think its about voting.
4. Woly Boly: 4/10, Whoa, (...)this song is kinda funny, but I don't like the way gibby is singing in this song, it's a little annoying, it kind of depends on the mood, well for me anyways.
5. Negro Observer: 7/10 who doesn't enjoy a song about aliens observing black people? Better yet what was Gibby Smoking when he thought this up? It also features Gibby with his saxophone.
6. Butthole Surfer: 10/10 a theme Song mixed with a punk atmosphere with lots of fast-hard-to-figure-out lyrics. Its really fun.
7. Lady Sniff: 8/10 this song will make you laugh or cringe, either is good. I think lady sniff was a girl they knew....
8. Cherub: 6/10 this song is very good live, but here it takes a while to get started and this really hurts the song. I think Cherub was an angel that Gibby met on an acid trip. Hence "Cherub, Cherub the angel". It's also the longest song at 6+ minutes.
9. Mexican Caravan: 6/10 a nice punk song, sounds like it's about going to Mexico to get... well...you know...
10. Cowboy Bob: 8/10, live version was on Live PCPPEP, also features the sax!
11. Gary Floyd: 8/10, a live version found on the encore of Live PCPPEP, has changed somewhat, only 1+ minutes, a nice way to close the album.

This is not my favorite Surfers album, but it does contain some classics, hope this helped. Good place to start if you want Psychedelic stuff from hell.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rock music at its most bizarre., June 29, 2005

By	Uriah Phillips (Johnson City, TN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Here we have the psychedelic post-punk Texan freaks at their absolute best. Their absurdity anthem "Butthole Surfer" is sloppy, demented speed punk cacophony. The first time I played "Lady Sniff" I literally fell down in the floor laughing. I think when they wrote it they all agreed to deliberately write the most intentionally BAD song they possibly could. The guitar playing is hideously mangled and Gibby obnoxiously sings complete nonsense like an incredibly drunk schizoid redneck. Anyone who doesn't crack up when hearing this song has no sense of humor at all. "Cherub" goes to show that the Butthole Surfers are not only capable of sounding weird and hilarious, but also weird and SCARY AS HELL. It's a dark, noisy, industrial rock monstrosity that was creepy enough for Richard Kern to use in one of his films. Every song on this album is brilliantly screwed up. I recommend looking for the version with the four bonus tracks, including "Moving To Florida", which sounds like a song by a bunch of psychotic blues rockers who have been drinking NyQuil all day. Damn, these guys need help. Actually... no, they don't. XD