BLIND IDIOT GOD

UNDERTOW

  1/  Sawtooth                                   (Hawkins)                     2.20
  2/  Clockwork Dub                              (Hawkins)                     4.27
  3/  Atomic Whip                                (Hawkins)                     4.26
  4/  Watch Yer Step                             (Hawkins)                     3.13
  5/  Drowning                                   (Hawkins)                     6.02
  6/  Major Key Dub                              (Hawkins)                     4.08
  7/  Alice In My Fantasies                      (Cook,Clinton)                2.54
  8/  Roller Coaster                             (Hawkins)                     4.34
  9/  Dubbing In the Sinai                       (Hawkins)                     3.47
  10/ Wailing Wall                               (Hawkins)                     3.04
  11/ Freaked (Long Version)                     (Hawkins,Rollins)             4.27
  12/ Purged Specimen                            (Zorn)                        1.52
  13/ Freaked (Title Version)                    (Hawkins,Rollins)             2.44

          Tracks 1-10 recorded May and June 1988 at B.C. Studio, Brooklyn, New York
          Engineered and mixed by Martin Bisi
          Tracks 11 and 13 recorded at Greenpoint Studios 1993 by Robert Musso
          Remixed at Orange Sound by Andy Hawkins, April 2017
          Mix engineer: James Dellatacoma
          Produced by Bill Laswell
          Track 12 produced by John Zorn
          Tracks 1-10 and 12 originally mastered at Masterdisc by Howie Weinberg
          Remastered by Alex DeTurk at Strange Weather, May 2017

Andy Hawkins: guitar; Gabe Katz: bass; Ted Epstein: drums; John Zorn (12): saxophone; Henry Rollins (11,13): vocals.

          1988 - Enemy (USA), EMY 107 (Vinyl)
          1988 - Enemy (USA), EMCD 107 (CD)
          2017 - Indivisible Music (USA), INDM0002.1.3 (2x12")
          2017 - Indivisible Music (USA), INDM0002.2.4 (CD)

Note: Sequence noted here is from the 2017 CD re-release.
Note: The original vinyl release does not contain track 12.
Note: The vinyl re-release contains tracks 11-13 on a bonus second platter.
Note: Bill Laswell does not play on this album.

REVIEWS :

For their second album, Blind Idiot God enlisted the services of producer Bill Laswell, but the results show little difference from the attack evidenced on their initial release. Once again, the band alternates between surging instrumental barnburners like Sawtooth and Drowning and spare, evocative dub-oriented songs. Both are handled with the same imagination and confidence which the group had previously exhibited; this was one extremely tight and talented power trio. Hawkin's compositions often take surprising turns during their short duration, themes bending and elongating in a manner providing delicious tension. Ted Epstein's drumming is a marvel to hear, combining a overwhelming strength with an unusual subtlety of rhythmic choices that one doesn't often hear in music as ostensibly rock-based as this.

Two tracks stand out as departures from their first album: a cover of George Clinton's Alice in My Fantasies wherein Blind Idiot God shows that it can also handle power-funk quite capably, and the final cut, Purged Specimen. For this number, they are joined by saxophonist, composer (he wrote the piece) and lover of hard-core thrash John Zorn. The track sounds much more like a Naked City song than a typical Blind Idiot God rave-up though, again, it's an example of the band successfully navigating hitherto unexplored territory. Listeners who enjoyed their debut album will find more of the same here, even if they suspect that a bit of a rut is being established.

Brian Olewnick (courtesy of the All Music Guide, via the Get Music website)