Pussy Galore “Feel Good About Your Body” released on or around this day, December 21st, 1985. Today is also the anniversary of Pussy Galore’s first show ever, at the University of Maryland (that info most excellently provided by Pop-Catastrophe). Feel Good About Your Body is a 4-song EP on Shove Records, Pussy Galore’s own label, and Adult Contemporary Recordings, another DC-based micro-label that only put a handful of releases from ’84- present including another Pussy Galore single and a few albums by Peach of Immortality (like Pussy Galore, a noise-rock band). As one would expect, the songs are noisy with lots of distortion and off-kilter rhythms. “Die Bitch” has buzz-sawed guitar and “drums” that are more like hammers pounding on metal (Bob Bert wasn’t in the band yet but clearly was destined to join based on Pussy Galore’s rhythm section aesthetic). “HC Rebellion” has Julia Cafritz taking spoken-word lead vocals (read from letters in the Maximum Rock ‘n Roll zine) over a droning raga-styled guitar hook and then layers and layers are added into the cacophony. Jon Spencer and Cafritz share vocals – more like shouts and screams – on “Constant Pain” (the only lyrics are “constant pain”) and “Car Fantasy” is all atonal, feedback and off-key droning.

Pussy Galore recorded the EP at the Laundry Room in October 1985 with Barrett Jones for $150 (the Laundry Room was his house that doubled as a recording studio). In an article on The Stranger website in 2002 Barrett said the recording process was hellish:

“First, Spencer was never happy with the takes. “He’d say, ‘That sounds too good–make it sound worse,’” Jones remembers. Then there was Julia Cafritz, the other singer at the time. She bragged about smoking three packs of cigarettes a day, and filled the house with a dense cloud of smoke. And Pussy Galore loved noise–loud, obnoxious noise. “God, I hated them for that,” admits Jones.

To the chagrin of Jones’ roommates, the band had a seemingly endless supply of noisemaking tools. They’d power up a rusty chainsaw for one song and hammer a steel oil drum on another. They broke glass and banged on sheet metal for hours. They also liked guitar feedback, and would spend forever perfecting just the right squeal. Finally, four days later, his ears assaulted to the point of bleeding and his legs cramped from crouching in the control-room closet, Jones was finished with Pussy Galore’s album. Needless to say, Jones and his home studio soon found another location.”

It’s not easy listening but since it is, I believe, Spencer’s first recorded output, Feel Good About Your Body provides an interesting glimpse into the evolution of his sound and style.

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Spencer and his backing band played a mix of tracks from his new record (the retail edition set to drop in September) and a few select songs from JSBX and Heavy Trash. I was able to snag the set list from one of the drummers (the guy on the standard drum kit, the other percussionist, Bob Bert, sat behind what appeared to be a refabbed car engine atop a bass drum and hooked onto a trash can; he hit his kit mainly with hammers).

Songs that appear on Spencer Sings the Hits that he played last night are (from Side 1): “Do the Trash Can,” a seriously funky ass-shaker with Spencer’s signature guitar sound, “Overload,” which is both funky and creep-slinky – a bit reminiscent of the vibe from Plastic Fang, “Time 2 Be Bad,” fuzzed-out with an addictive beat, “Ghost,” the most blues-smashing, sinister and experimental song of the night and “Beetle Boots,” which is wild and, on the recorded version, Boss Hoggy with the backing vocals. From Side 2, Spencer performed “Hornet,” another groovy funkster, “Wilderness,” which is super-heavy, “Love Handle,” a slower tempo’d beat-complicated burner, ‘I Got the Hits,” which I think really could be a hit it’s so goddamn good, and “Cape.”

Spencer also included a couple of JSBX songs in the set, including “Dang” and “Shirt Jac,” the video links from the High Noon show at the end of this post, plus Heavy Trash’s “The Loveless” and Pussy Galore’s “Pretty Fuck Look” and “New Breed.”

After the show, Spencer was at the merch table so we got our album signed, bought a t-shirt, got a couple of photos (Joe and Jon opted for some silly faces) and chatted a bit.

We did not pick up a poster because I’m friends with the artist, Fran Ramirez of Bureau of Print Research and Design, who made the Melvins/Spencer print for the High Noon show and I opted to get it directly from him. Here he is in his workshop with the print that will soon be hanging on our wall. (He has a few prints still available for sale)

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Pussy Galore, “Pussy Gold 5000″ EP, 45 rpm, 1987. Buy Our Records Inc./Shove Records.  Recorded in ‘86 and released in Jan. ‘87, the single pressing of 3,000 sold out in one month. This would be the band’s last release on their own Shove imprint (co-released with NJ hardcore label Buy Our Records) before they signed with Caroline later in the year.

We picked up a 2014 reissue of this album over this past holiday weekend, but the one pictured here is an original pressing (the vault, being what it is, we kinda forgot we had it). 5-song EP, featuring 4 original trashy punk tracks (including “Pretty Fuck Look,” “Spin Out,” “Walk,” and “Get Out” plus one cover song, performed live, “No Count” by Ty Wagner.

Pussy Galore’s lineup changed frequently during their recording years of ‘85-’90 and this iteration features Jon Spencer on vocals and guitar, Julia Cafritz on guitar and vocals, Neil Hagerty on guitar, vocals and drums, Bob Bert on drums and metal, and Cristina Martinez on guitar and organ. I believe this is the last released recording that Cristina played on before joining Spencer in marriage and Boss Hog in ‘89 just prior to the breakup of Pussy Galore.

Reading indie label run-off groove scratchings is always a delight: this one reads Side 1 “Take lots of drugs” and Side 2 “Kill indscrimmately” (yes, it’s misspelled, though not sure if on purpose or not).

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A loud, shrieking and howling, heavy and blistering live performance from JSBX’s Freedom Tower tour, which we saw in Madison in June at the High Noon Saloon. “2015 and the Blues is still #1!” Spencer proclaims at the intro to “Bellevue Baby” and he is so spot on. The Record Store Day release is filled with a mix of ass-shaking tracks from Freedom Tower like “Joe Buck” and “Betty” as well as older songs like “Flavor” and “Dang” (both from the most excellent Orange) and “She’s on It-Jack the Ripper” (the Beastie Boys-Link Wray mash-up JSBX put out for RSD ‘14).

Run-off groove: Side A – “Elvis Presley Gold-Toned Microphone” Side B – “Free James Brown”

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We picked up a 2014 reissue of this album over this past holiday weekend, but the one pictured here is an original pressing (the vault, being what it is, we kinda forgot we had it). 5-song EP, featuring 4 original trashy punk tracks and one cover song, performed live, “No Count” by Ty Wagner.

Pussy Galore’s lineup changed frequently during their recording years of ‘85-’90 and this iteration features Jon Spencer on vocals and guitar, Julia Cafritz on guitar and vocals, Neil Hagerty on guitar, vocals and drums, Bob Bert on drums and metal, and Cristina Martinez on guitar and organ. I believe this is the last released recording that Cristina played on before joining Spencer in marriage and Boss Hog in ‘89 just prior to the breakup of Pussy Galore.

Reading indie label run-off groove scratchings is always a delight: this one reads Side 1 “Take lots of drugs” and Side 2 “Kill indscrimmately” (yes, it’s misspelled, though not sure if on purpose or not).

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