Butthole Surfers "Hairway To Steven"

The second part of Matador’s reissues of the essential early records by Texas’s Butthole Surfers continues with three of their most insane slabs -- 1985’s ‘Cream Corn from the Socket of Davis,’ 1987’s ‘Locust Abortion Technician’ and 1988’s ‘Hairway to Steven.’ The period during which these records were first issued parallels the Buttholes’ transition from being weirdo Texas outcasts to becoming internationally recognized smut-kings of the American underground.

‘Cream Corn’ plucked two tunes from ‘Rembrandt’ and added a couple new ones that had been recorded on their home studio 8 track in Winterville Georgia. “Moving to Florida” (the best example ever of what Beefheart probably sounded like when he’s tripping) and the other three tracks blew peoples’ minds by being so precise and fully-messed-up at the same time. ‘Cream Corn’ was a perfect bite-sized taster for what would follow.

From the opening track, “Sweat Loaf,” which quotes Black Sabbath with results both hilarious and bowel-stomping, to the scuzz-guitar riven “found” vocals of “22 Going on 23,” ‘Locust Abortion Technician.’ is a non-stop face-full of hallucinogenic gas. Maniacal sludge guitar figures and Gibbytronix vocals are smeared everywhere, with most excellent results. For many folks. ‘Locust’ represents the album with which the Buttholes fully fulfilled their insane potential.

‘Hairway to Steven’ is a blast, ranging from the blood-smeared guitar-overload of “Jimi” to the acoustic guitar-based sing-along sweetness of “I Saw an X-Ray of a Girl Passing Gas” to the Fugs-like ranting of “John E. Smokes.” Yet, for all its strangeness, ‘Hairway’ got rave notices in places that had never paid the band any attention previously. It was the Buttholes’ last album of the ‘80s and marks the beginning of their ascendance into something akin to commercial success. Not that the band actually imagined anything at all like that occurring.

--Byron Coley