The seldom-seen "I'm Really Fucked Now" multi-format set (combining a CD, 7", clear-vinyl LP, and cassette all in one package) stands as an early testament to Prisonshake's strong "bow to no man" ethic, especially if you consider a band with barely three 7"-ers to their name choosing a box set for their next jumping-off point as being somewhat of a head-scratcher. I had no problems with the concept myself, though much later I would find trouble with something else: the hollowed-out piece of 12" square green foam that was used to hold the cassette in place and make sure that all the other odd pieces would fit together in the same bag without getting all scuffed up. While I'm sure it seemed like a great idea initially, eventually foam does dry out and get crumbly, meaning that now-- decades later-- the records have a good chance of looking almost like they've been coated with asbestos or something. Luckily, out of the handful of sets that I own (with #0040/1000 being the lowest number-- I think that's the one I bought at Brass City Records), one of them is made up of only the 12" and 7", without the foam. I'm guessing that it might've been a budget edition for mailing out as a promo to reviewers and so forth, though that's only a guess.
To post the entire set here would be kinda daunting anyway, so I'm using the one vinyl-only set that I own as an excuse to post just the 12" and 7" now and maybe get to the cassette and CD later. Don't worry, you should still be able to hunt down the other half of the material fairly easily, if you're interested; just look for the identically-titled "I'm Really Fucked Now" 23-track CD that came out on Rubber Records in Australia a year or two after the original Scat set was released, as it contains most of the material from the original cassette/CD and on top of that is fleshed-out with a bunch of other goodies, representing a planned-for double-LP that was never finished.
The 12" included in the box set is a compilation of previous singles sides, and while I know I've posted a good chunk of the original 45s already, some of the tracks here were re-mixed for the box set or had a new vocal track added ("She Talks Trouble" includes a little bit of "Ginn Slips In" as a coda, which is different from how it was on the original 7"), plus now you can hear them with the different fidelity that a 12" LP offers... not to mention the "120 Days" b-sides, which were originally split-channeled (one song coming out of the left speaker, one song coming out of the right speaker) but the ones included in this set have been converted back to stereo. The 7" is a collaboration with Mark Edwards of My Dad Is Dead, a collaboration that the band sorta abandoned later on (saying it "wasn't really all that spectacular" in the liner notes to the Rubber CD), which means the Scat set is the only place where these two songs can be found. I sorta like the 7" myself, especially "Redeye", although both songs are merely re-works of previous Prisonshake/MDID songs.
The eight-page booklet that comes with the set pretty much nails down any of the other details you may need, and you'll also find a handy sheet of early Prisonshake fanzine reviews, which are mostly clueless. I'd sorta forgotten how badly Fred Mills sucked, though I know that Jim Testa won't like me saying that (I don't think he reads this blog anymore, anyway). There's also a show review for Prisonshake's May '89 opening slot for Mojo Nixon, the live tape of which I posted back in '08, and you can read the Gerard Cosloy and Tim Adams reviews back-to-back and figure out which one was the original and which one was the soon-to-be disgruntled imposter. A lot of the other reviewers keep trying to label Prisonshake as being some sort of Americana crap, which is as hilarious as it is depressing (remember when people actually thought the Del Fuegos were a good band?).
I may keep posting other Prisonshake stuff as I go along, but Scat does have a complete CD box set and a best-of '87-'92 overview in the works, so do take notice.
Prisonshake -
"Fairfield Avenue Serenade"
"She Talks Trouble/Ginn Slips In"
"Fall Right Down"
"Ode to Abe"
"Downtight"
"Redeye"
"Take My Wife, Please"
7 comments:
This is what got me into the 'snack long ago. Picked it up at the local record store because I figured no band would do something like this without having the goods. Haven't looked at the actual thing in years; I fear you're right about the foam. Thanks for digitizing this stuff.
I've got two sets with the foam still in place, and only one of them has ended up looking pretty bad-- the other one seems okay. Of course, that one has the CD missing, which I seem to have lost somewhere along the way.
were you at the Prisonshake/Shyster gig in Danbury?
Me? No.
Didn't you tell me that you lent them some gear for that show?
I've never seen Prisonshake, which is dumb since I own about 20 of their records.
By the way, this is my #1 favorite web site now:
http://twitter.com/total_dick
they told us we blew them away. as much as I liked Prisonshake...we really did!
ah, the Twitter feed is a good place to keep abreast of the upcoming "lecture series" events!
"Just off stage at ctfilmfest. Wayans Bros impressed, want us in next fat suit film."
The mp3 files on this post are now inactive.
"Late nite afterparty in Berlin, Bowie is fucking shitfaced"
Post a Comment