Bang

'bang' assembles material from the jesus lizard's eps and singles, throwing in a few unreleased tracks as well. so it's not someone's idea of a best-of collection (if it were, omitting 'nub and 'puss' would be inexcusable), nor is it as cohesive and powerful as 1991's tour de force 'goat'. but if you don't want to go searching for the 'mouth breather' 7", and you simply have to hear their cover of trio's 'sunday you need love,' 'bang' is a more than worthwhile purchase. speaking of trio, the lizard must have some inordinate fondness for the german synth pop group, as bang also features a previously unreleased cover of 'anna.' the band obviously has fun doing other people's songs, smoking through the dicks'. 'wheelchair epidemic' and a chrome medley that they entitle, simply, 'chrome' (the original songs are 'tv as eyes' and 'abstract nympho'). and the live tracks are appropriately blistering, like the mind-blowing 'killer mchann,' with all it's creepy lyrics and unorthodox time signatures. and 'dancing naked ladies' and 'fly on the wall,' from 'goat' and 'down', respectively, vary from the versions found on those albums, making them necessary for completists. cheap until the start of july 2005