Search - Jesus Lizard :: Down (Deluxe Remastered Reissue)

...should always be mentioned in the same breath as "Goat" a

Stargrazer | deep in the heart of Michigan | 10/23/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Down" is easily The Jesus Lizard's most accomplished recording. After the lurching whirl of "Goat" and "Liar" and their relentless touring (including my first show at St. Andrew's in Detroit) for those two great and grinding discs -- which finally distilled and captured their live sound in a way "Head/Pure" merely suggested -- "Down" was where they stretched their musical legs.



While the essential ingredients persist from the first three records -- loping bass growls, surgically dissonant guitars, percolating jackhammer drumming, strangled and anguished vocals -- the varied tempos and unique arrangements the band was obviously capable of emerge at their zenith with this deceptively understated album. "Fly On The Wall" channels the band's aggression towards an annoying housefly, minting a classic and almost funky groove in the process. "Mistletoe," "Countless Backs Of Sad Losers" and the stampeding "Queen For A Day" follow in quick succession, veritably luring you out into the open where the surprising "The Associate" opens up the tightly-wound song structures with a sort of film noir rhythm soundtrack that Duane Denison's guitar skitters and skips across in fluently bluesy figures, along with David Yow's most easily-understood singing to date. It's a standout track that lets you know "Down" is going to be different.



From that point onward, song structures get exploded and recombined in pointillistic, spiny ways, allowing Denison and bassist David Wm. Sims to exorcise their jazz demons, a point not lost on Yow who intones that "Mingus and Parker f--k for breakfast, 'cause jazz is a slut again." This sort of open-ended tweakery with song structure delivers the great, stuttering "American BB," laced with Yow's non-sequiturs and a brief, slashing solo from Denison over Yow singing about "cutting little gill slits in your neck." Another surprise comes in the song "Horse," where Sims adds an unheard of Hammond organ. The hurtling "Din" slams to a halt only to herald the crawl of "Elegy," a song that hearkens back to the song "Pastoral" on their first LP "Head," both tracks seeming to beg for cellos and strings though they stay minimal, the Jesus Lizard's usual crunching careen transformed into an almost stately, and indeed elegaic walk.



The remaster appends the "Glamorous/Deaf As A Bat" 7" single (previously available only on the "Lash" triple 7" EP), the noise collage "White Hole" (from the flipside of the "(Fly) On (The Wall)" single), and "Panic In Cicero," a great track that was previously relegated to the "Clerks" soundtrack. Overall, the remastering job stays true to the original sound of the album -- Albini is definitely not known for tarting things up with compressors and filters -- a little less roomy than "Goat," and a little less full-frontal than "Liar." "Down" has a surprisingly open sound for a noise rock record, with every part intelligibly mixed. Clean, clear guitars and drums convey a psychic grime and dread which is expanded upon by Yow's throaty vocal delivery and Sims glue-like guttural bass. It's difficult to really give a drummer their due in words alone -- saying Mac McNeilly's stickwork underpins this great and underrated album is really the understatement of the century.



"Goat" and "Liar" steal a lot of the spotlight -- and rightly so -- but "Down" is every bit as essential, and may even be the one Jesus Lizard album you keep coming back to."

Their all-time best

Bobby Garland | London, UK | 10/14/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"'Head' is a fine record, 'Goat' and 'Liar' are both great, but 'Down' is the best of them all. None of the other records have the nuances or the unique flow that 'Down' has.



'Fly on the Wall' has lyrics that are like Kafka meets Bukowski. 'The Associate' is pure audio noir. 'Mistletoe' and 'Queen for a Day' are punk with a lunatic rockabilly sound. Every other track is brillianty unhinged.



This album is a soundtrack to the darker shades of existence. Imagine a man curled-up in his small room while the TV flickers off the walls in the darkness, or wandering the empty streets alone late at night. That's what 'Down' brings to mind."