Most Folks Say You're A Total Fucking Dick

"Almost Christmas" is just about my favorite Prisonshake song ever, or it at least wavers up and down within the top three. It's one of those songs where the first time I listened to it I was thinking to myself, "Hey, this is pretty good," but by the time the hook that is the massive refrain at the very end had faded out, I was thinking, "Wow, what a great friggin' song!" Robert Griffin's guitar playing and Doug Enkler's vocals on this track are really amazing, and listening to it you can practically sense the room they were playing in when they recorded it. Just to show how stupid I am about this song, I still catch myself randomly humming the intro bars to the bass line every so often, nearly two decades after I first bought the record.

As far as vinyl rips to mp3's go, there may even be too much atmosphere in the song; I'm having to post it here pretty much unprocessed, since Prisonshake filled the song with so many unusual creaks and groans that the recording software that I use wants to make the file practically unlistenable by deleting some of the important parts of it. So I guess what you're getting here is the true vinyl experience, surface noise and all.

When the "I'm Really Fucked Now" box set was released in edited form in Australia, Prisonshake re-recorded the b-side to this single, "Hell Hell Hell", claiming that they weren't happy with the "muddy" 45 version because it wasn't rocked enough. I'm posting both variations here; I like both of them alot for different reasons, though I'm kinda skeptical towards the re-recorded version because Doug changes my favorite line in the whole song.




Prisonshake -

"Almost Christmas"

"Hell Hell Hell (45 version)"

"Hell Hell Hell (CD version)"

(these files are now listen-only)

The "Almost Christmas" 45 was originally given away as a freebie inside the 4th issue of Robert Griffin's Seven mag, which also included a Prisonshake interview printed on a set of index cards. I'm pretty sure that Prisonshake would probably cringe thinking about people reading this interview now, seeing how it's pretty silly, but I'm including it anyway. (Click on the individual cards for a larger view so you can read them better.)

I don't really know who this "Eric Davidson" person is who keeps popping up on a lot of the Prisonshake stuff (writing the sleeve notes for "A Girl Named Yes", etc.); some friggin' radio DJ, I guess.