Shockabilly

The final two albums by the avant rock trio Shockabilly were their creative high points, the albums where their combination of silly, antic humor and experimental noise finally truly came together. It's not that these albums are any less goofy than what had come before -- guitarist Eugene Chadbourne still sings a lot of the songs in those silly cartoon voices that Primus stole outright, and bassist Kramer introduces that bizarre sped-up voice that he later used on the Bongwater records with Ann Magnuson. New drummer David Licht, who became an integral part of Kramer's world starting with these records, gives the band more of a rock & roll wallop, the same sort of heft that Sonic Youth suddenly gained when Steve Shelley joined. These are still self-consciously abrasive, "difficult" records filled with alternately giggly and creepy sound collages, but songs like "How Can You Kill Me, I'm Already Dead" (a disturbing musical recasting of some of Charles Manson's public rants) and Kramer's unexpectedly bouncy "Pity Me Sheena" have a musical presence and authority that Shockabilly's earlier records lacked. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide