LUBRICATED GOAT Plays The Devil's Music

Artist: LUBRICATED GOAT
Title: Plays The Devil's Music
Year of Release: 1987
Label: Black Eye Records/Am Rep
Format: LP

I got hold of a vinyl to CD converter player thing and this was one of those releases I could not wait to get onto CD/iPod format. I lost interest in this conversion process pretty quickly, but am grateful that this record made the cut as it is definitely one of my faves!

Recorded during 1986, it kicks off with one of my fave cuts 'Jason The Unpopular' and throughout the course of this all too short opus, listeners are treated to beer bottle solos, deflating balloons and host of other alternative means for generating sound. 'Plays...' is in no way an industrial album, but guitar rock would also be far from accurate. Lubricated Goat's output was generated by what you'd describe as more or less a traditional 'band' set up, but the confines of traditional instrumentation were never going to restrict this transient horde.

Elements of punk, jazz and trashy rock 'n' roll are all on show on this debut, and the band became a household name here in Australia by appearing naked on a national television program and performing a track called 'In The Raw'. Lubricated Goat were as punk rock as a band could be and their legacy suggests their drug intake to be in the realms of legendary. I generally prefer bands who generate an unholy noise based on the expulsion of their inner demons as opposed to chemical influences, but there's not a thing I would have suggested that LG had done differently.

Originally released by Black Eye Records in Australia, it was picked up a little while later by Amphetamine Reptile for a US release, and was only ever available on LP and Cassette. The band (mostly Stu Spasm) have formed and folded at least 4 times since their inception and while I doubt that the magic they possessed on this album could ever be recaptured, who am I to say. Spasm definitely lent a fine hand to Nunbait's immortal EP 'The Hub' though that was a scant 3 years after 'Plays...' first materialized.

A quick look around did not see me turning up many leads on availability of this album, but some of their other releases were available here . I'd be inclined to think that there would be a few of these LPs floating around stores here in Australia at any rate.

Read another cool insight into LG here