Batstew

Description

This is one of those LPs that Ive heard about for years. Peopled say to me Roland, its right up your alley or Roland its terrible. Youd love it! But when Id askem to describe it theyd go doe-eyed & get all pickle faced n say you just have to hear it for yourself. Well finally, thanks to the De Stijl label, I have. And let me tell you something: I am perplexed about what I heard. Mostly, I guess, cause I aint hearin things what other scribes have insinuated I should. Department Store Santas? Desperate Bicycles? Not in my kung fu village! To me this LP teeters on a precipice between euphoria & anguish. It is certainly the work of an unstable mind & tortured soul. I mean, you can almost feel Tuckers circuits shorting out as the record progresses. You dont need to read the insert to hear that! Theres a lot of sadness & confusion goin on too. Its a record about a guys love for his car. Its a record about a guys love for his girl. Theres a song thats evidently an ode to homosexual love (not that theres anything wrong w/ that). The guy records himself talkin to his car, slammin the doors, the girl whispers & sings along sometimes. Yeah, it has its moments. Like the naif, art brut-ish noisescapes that Tucker occasionally creates or like the dingaling song at the end of side 2 thats about a Cadillac (among other things) that eventually crumbles into a fuzzy guitar freakout. It is one odd fucker of an LP, theres no denyin that. But how someone& I wont say whowinds up comparin it to the albums by Department Store Santas & Desperate Bicycles is beyond me. Oh sure, thosere nice lures youre tossin out there, but theyre inappropriate. Those bands LPs are challenging. Tuckers is more challenged. Maybe what they meant to say was that one day Mark Tucker saw someone dressed as a department store Santa, went bananas, then desperately rode a bicycle to the mental institution. I dunno. I wasnt there. If I was to sell you this record I would say imagine a record that sounds like someone who claims to be Daniel Johnston who rerecorded Smile or imagine if Larry Fischer had been commissioned to do the Pink Moon LP as literally a Volkswagen commercial. Would you buy it? I know I would because that sounds like something thats right up my alley & the descriptions are terrible enough that Id probably love it. That said, Batstew is certainly a unique album. I dunno about a masterpiece, but shorter people are prone to exaggeration. And thats a fact! Im glad I got to hear it & props to De Stijl for reissuing it.

~ Roland Woodbe / siltblog