The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape

by

Big Black

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Big Black founder/recording studio owner/all-around curmudgeon Steve Albini has hated the CD format since the beginning. He considers it inferior in sound quality and overpriced to boot. Thus, "The Rich Man's Eight-Track Tape," originally released in the late 80's, is both a compromise to the market and a deliberate provocation. Albini's own words on the subject:

"This compact disc, compiled to exploit those of you gullible enough to own the bastardly first generation digital home music system, contains all analog masters. Compact discs are quite durable, this being their only advantage over real music media. You should take every opportunity to scratch them, fingerprint them and eat egg and bacon sandwiches off them. Don't worry about their longevity, as Philips will pronounce them obsolete when the next phase of the market-squeezing technology bonanza begins."

Of course, it's now been a couple of generations, in tech terms, since the CD was introduced, and the format is still with us, though many (like the business executives who make money off them) believe they're in sharp decline. Rival formats (SACD, DVDA, etc.) have tried to muscle in, and then there's the swift encroachment of the lowly mp3. Since none of Albini's bands are available for legal download, it's pretty easy to imagine his opinion of the format. Big Black were and are a brilliant band, and anyone who thinks they know something about "extreme" rock music has to have their music. My advice: buy two copies of each of their releases on CD, and convert them to mp3's. That'll be sure to annoy the hell out of him, and an annoyed Albini is a creative Albini. Then again, take a listen to the CD versions of the music and the LP versions. Guess which one will sound better? This is, of course, on purpose. Even though today's CD's are much better to the original model, Big Black's releases have never been remastered and if Albini has anything to say about it, they never will be.

"Eight Track" is basically the CD release of Big Black's debut full-length LP, the incredible "Atomizer," with the omission of the mediocre "Strange Things." Oddly taking advantage of the longer running times of CD's, this release also tacks on the just swell "Headache" EP, as well as the "Heartbeat" 7" single. Needless to say, it's a classic of aggressive, noisy post-punk, with a relentless, deliberately primitive drum machine (nicknamed "Roland") instead of a live skin basher. Despite the lean, muscular sound the band acheived, this is not the immature, knuckle-dragging sludge that so much heavy metal (at least of that era) cranked out. Wheareas metal was marketed to immature knuckle-draggers, Big Black wrote ABOUT them. That's a distinction lost on a lot of critics back in the day, but the steely intelligence of pummelling songs like "Fists Of Love" or "Passing Complexion" should be obvious now. Album opener "Jordan, Minnesota" is based on a real news story about an entire town of alleged pedophiles. This story was eventually proven to be a hoax, part of the wave of child-abuse hysteria that struck the country during the 80's, but the song still has the metaphorical impact of a brutal horror movie. Likewise, the pyromaniacal pain-freaks of one of Big Black's greatest songs, "Kerosene" don't need to correspond with any actual real-world events to be effective. Throughout the album, Abini's corrosive guitar and Dave Riley's lurching bass, not to mention the relentless pounding of the drum machine, create an uncompromising roar stripped of any melodic frills. There is, however, a sense of humor. It's sardonic and ironic, but it's there.

So if you don't mind having to crank the volume way up and fidgeting with the EQ just to get a passable sound, this is the place to start. The band's second (and final) album, the cheekily-titled "Songs About F***ing" is in my opinion even better, and is just as recommended. Still, let's permit Abini to have the last words:

"The future belongs to analog loyalists. F*** digital."

I was introduced to the legacy of Big Black through a coworker... After hearing a song or two, I was taken aback. I went to purchase a CD of theirs and that same friend stopped me... He told me a story of how Albini used to send in two masters of their albums - one for the vinyl pressing and another they played frisbee with in the parking lot, before handing it in for the compact disc pressing. Mister Albini really doesn't like the digital revolution it seems.

Granted this little story about the masters could be just another rumour about the infamous rockstar Steve Albini, but after comparing the phonograph to the compact disc - the difference in sound quality is blatantly obvious.

Do yourself a favour, buy the albums. Especially if you're buying Shellac stuff, the vinyl release of 1000 Hurts came in a sexy box and had the cd version thrown in for the heck of it.

Thank you and happy consumption.