Venus Handcuffs - Venus Handcuffs (Mega Blowout Sale)
SKU
Ad Hoc 06
Bob Drake: drums, bass, backing vocals, tapes, viola
Susanne Lewis: vocals, guitar, viola, accordion, synths
Venus Handcuffs is an early, pre-Hail project by Bob Drake and Susanne Lewis, both of whom were working in Thinking Plague at the time they were also simultaneously doing this duo work.
"Referred to as "a cross between Throbbing Gristle and Nick Cave" during the band's lifetime, Venus Handcuffs got their start in the ranks of Colorado's most far-reaching band, Thinking Plague, and went on to infamy after changing their band's name to Hail. This disk is their debut duo recording,
and well-encompasses an experimental direction which, while somewhat natural for the time in America, has since been sadly overlooked by those who have followed in their wake. This is the first time this classic, experimental-rock recording has been issued on CD; the former vinyl version has been long out-of-print and hungrily sought out by collectors for years. Painstakingly re-mastered by Bob Drake for optimum sound quality."
This album was previously released on vinyl as “Corpses As Bedmates” in 1986 and this first-ever CD issue includes an extra track.
“Before 'Hail' loomed up out of the Pre-Cambrian swamps to lay waste to much of the known world, there was Venus Handcuffs. This is as much a testament to an attitude and a time as it is a CD of songs. In Bob's excellent accompanying notes he describes the conditions: a totally impoverished group of people, wholly focused on music, working with impossible equipment in an abandoned yoghurt factory on the wrong side of town, who somehow turned all their problems into solutions.
Those of you who know Hail will recognise the vital roots, somewhat battered and scratched by time and technology (Bob has done an extraordinary job of recovery from the original surviving cassettes) but imprinted here too is the inventiveness and determination of original talents to create, whatever the obstacles.
These are recordings that capture the empty rooms and alien machinery of their birthplace, and in this respect this is more than a collection of songs. And it gets spookier as it progresses. It certainly isn't slick. It calls across time like a wistful ghost, or a spirit photograph, that can't get free of its veils. I've always wanted to use the word horripilant in a review and by the end of the CD this gets close. 'Rest Home' is quite extraordinary and as for 'For the rest of the Day', 'I see dead people' isn't even in it.”-Chris Cutler
- LabelAd Hoc
- UPC187914000064