Thursday, August 27, 2009

MEAT PUPPETS: MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, PHOENIX, AZ 11/28/81. SOUNDBOARD RECORDING.



Before the Meat Puppets began releasing records showcasing their sun damaged style of country punk, they were experts at constructing wild-eyed, art damaged hardcore. Their debut EP "In a Car" ranks as one of my favorite hardcore records of all time because of its courageous and reckless spirit. The five tracks on their debut 7" EP speed along at a face-melting velocity but seem to move in multi-modal directions depending on the track that you're listening to. The lyrics are often totally incomprehensible and when they were printed they were even more baffling. When considering all of this, it makes total sense that your average hardcore lunkhead wanted to spit all over them when they opened for label mates Black Flag.

This soundboard recording documents the Meat Puppets tearing through a total of 33 songs from their first 7", first LP, and features a whole smattering of oddball covers ranging from the Grateful Dead to Black Flag. It is pretty amazing to think that a hardcore band could even muster the patience to perform a set that is an hour in length. This recording clocks in at just under one hour and the band uses the cover song piss takes to regain their energy to shred on the faster paced songs. Like their records from this time period, the overall performance on this recording is sloppy but highly engaging.

Setlist:
1) Saturday Morning
2) Our Friends
3) Playing Dead
4) Electromud
5) Unjust
6) Reward
7) Milo, Sorghum & Maize
8) H Elenore
9) Blue-Green God
10) Melons Rising
11) Dolphin Field
12) In A Car
13) Tumbling Tumbleweeds (Bob Nolan)
14) Love Offering
15) Litter Box
16) Meat Puppets
17) Teenagers
18) Hearts
19) Foreign Lawns
20) The Gold Mine
21) Walking Boss
22) No Values (Black Flag)
23) Big House
24) Magic Carpet Ride (Steppenwolf)
25) Reach Out (IĆ­ll Be There) (Four Tops)
26) Rabbit Fighter (T-Rex)
27) Down on the Corner (CCR)
28) Standing on the Verge of Getting It On (Funkadelic)
29) I Know You Rider (Grateful Dead)
30) I Am A Child
31) Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix)
32) Out in the Gardener
33) 1970 (Stooges)

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4 comments:

  1. thanks for all the great posts..although this one is not opening

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  2. Great post! I've got a live Meat Puppets set that's labeled as being from "Club Mardi Gras" on 06.30.81 if you're interested.

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  3. That's a good one. I have that one too. I will eventually upload it to this site along with 6-7 other early Meat Puppets shows.

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