Psycho-Head Blowout is an EP by the band White Zombie issued in May 1987. It was the debut release of the band's short-lived label Silent Explosion and was recorded with producer and composer Kramer. The record was the band's first release to receive critical notice.
Recording
Rob was very critical of Mark Kramer's engineering work, saying that he "wouldn't do anything we told him to, and he kept smoking pot and falling asleep".[1]
Tour
Although Psycho-Head Blowout was White Zombie's first release to receive praise from more prestigious critics, most of the attention was directed towards the live shows surrounding the release of the record. Simmons of The Village Voice wrote, "Their recent EP Psycho-Head Blowout reams the cranium quite nicely, but the live shows will really open your skull"[2] while Smith from the same newspaper simply wrote, "Seethisband. Seethisband. Seethisband. Go."[3] During this time the band toured mostly with other local New York bands such as the Swans, Rat at Rat R, Pussy Galore and The Honeymoon Killers. "We didn't really fit in", recalls Sean "it felt like the East Village scene was amused by us, at best".[4]
Release and reception
| Professional ratings |
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| Review scores |
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| Source | Rating |
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| Allmusic |   [5] |
The vinyl of the EP was released on White Zombie's own label Silent Explosion and limited to a pressing of one thousand copies. The album was issued for the first time on CD when it was included in the anthology Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, released in 2008.[6]
Allmusic writer Bradley Torreano gave the album three out of five stars, saying, "young Rob Zombie sounded like Damaged-era Rollins, while the band crafted some of the gnarliest grunge on the East Coast" and that "any fans of the New York noise scene would do themselves a favor by hearing this album".[5] Kurt Cobain pointed to this record as being one of his favorite EPs, praising Tom Guay's guitar playing style as being "fucked-up, bending strings, borderline in-tune--that type of chaos".[5][7]
Packaging
The picture of the band on the front cover was taken by Michael Lavine, who had previously worked as a fashion photographer. He had been friends with Sean Yseult and was asked to take the band's picture for the cover despite having never done that kind of work before. The photo made an impact however, as no one else was releasing albums with their picture on the cover at the time.[8]
The quotes "How's everything in the pimp business?" inscribed into the runout of Side A and "I don't know nobody named Iris" on Side B of the vinyl are from the 1976 film Taxi Driver.
Track listing
All lyrics written by Rob Zombie, all music composed by White Zombie.
| 1. |
"Eighty Eight" |
3:45 |
| 2. |
"Fast Jungle" |
4:24 |
| 3. |
"Gun Crazy" |
4:29 |
| 1. |
"Kick" |
4:08 |
| 2. |
"Memphis" |
3:37 |
| 3. |
"Magdalene" |
4:12 |
| 4. |
"True Crime" |
4:50 |
Personnel
- White Zombie
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- Production and additional personnel
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Release history
References
- ↑ Sprague, David. "I WALKED WITH WHITE ZOMBIE". Creem Presents: Thrash Metal. 1988, cited July 31, 2008
- ↑ Simmons "White Zombie". The Village Voice. August 4, 1987. Cited January 9, 2011
- ↑ Smith "White Zombie". The Village Voice. August 4, 1987. Cited January 9, 2011
- ↑ Yseult, Sean. "Psycho-Head". I'm in the Band. 2010. pg. 17, cited January 9, 2011
- 1 2 3 Torreano, Bradley. "Psycho-Head Blowout". Allmusic. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
- ↑ Forget, Tom. "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie". Allmusic. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
- ↑ DeRogatis, Jim. "Milk It!". October 2003. pg. 7
- ↑ "Grunge by Michael Lavine". January 2010, cited June 11, 2010
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