Psychic TV "Were You Ever Bullied at School... Do You Want Revenge?" Cold Spring CSRCD27 1999
Disc One (79:38)
Turn the Golden Thread (8:47)
Spin the Blood Red Thread (6:45)
Rope Your Self (8:15)
Unclean (Dead Dog River) (14:38)
Godstars Never Fade They Merely Re-incarnate (6:35)
OV Power (13:40)
Shango and Come Back! (20:58)
Disc Two (71:28)
Thee Legge Songe (5:59)
Soul Eater (7:47)
Unclean (Bring Out Your Dead) (11:25)
Godstar (Never Forget) (6:00)
I Can See Your Eye Can I (16:58)
OV Power, Corruption and Magick (11:49)
Papal Breakdance (11:30)
Genesis P-Orridge - vocals & prepared noise bass guitar, Alex Ferguson - lead guitars, Matthew Best - drums, Phillip Erb - keyboards, Dave Martin - bass guitar.
Psychic TV "Were You Ever Bullied at School... Do You Want Revenge?"
Now I remember why I avoided all those Psychic TV live albums all these years. Yuck. This 2 cd set (this being the limited edition version with 'bonus' cd) features 2 live shows in Germany from late 1984, not long after the departure of Peter Christopherson and John Balance (Coil). Here we have the very beginnings of the 'hyperdelic' song based period, though the bulk of these tracks are still in the experimental vein of the early to mid '80s. PTV were notorious for not practicing for gigs and, well, it shows. Sometimes I wonder if anyone on stage was actually aware of what anyone else on stage was doing at any given time. It often seems like random jamming, noise and feedback ... in a bad way. A really bad way. The 'songs' are loosely arranged with Genesis mumbling, yelling, bellowing, howling and/or occasionally singing over them here and there. Those that should be recognizable, like "Unclean" and "Godstar", barely are and are lame in comparison to their studio counterparts. The sound on both discs is bootleg quality: poorly mixed, distant and fuzzy with audience members clearly chatting amongst themselves. Disc 2, which I guess is the 'bonus' disc, is ironically the better of the two as the band is much tighter and competent, but only marginally so. And with 7 tracks exceeding 11 minutes in length this is simply cruel and inhumane punishment. As for the packaging, it's not much better. The cover drawing is the most redeeming quality as the insert offers only 1 b/w picture of Genesis, track listings, copyright info and web site urls with nothing in the way of liner notes. Everything about this reeks of bootleg despite it being an official release from Cold Spring Records. This is for die hard PTV fans only. As for me, I'll stick to the studio albums. May I please have my $18 back?
Genesis P-Orridge
Cold Spring Records
Where did I get this cd? - mail order via Riouxs Records.