Hairway To Steven

There are no written song titles for this album; instead the titles are depicted by drawings. Devoted Butthole Surfers fans will argue the relative merits of the band's early albums, but all seem to be in agreement on the brilliance of HAIRWAY TO STEVEN. The album combines the sometimes harrowing freakishness of their debut and the sonic experimentation of LOCUST ABORTION TECHNICIAN with a glimpse of the accessibility that crept into their 1990s albums. Still, HAIRWAY is vintage Surfers, a nearly overwhelming mixture of spinning psychedelia, fractured songcraft, thunderous punk, and a generally outr? sensibility. Gibby Haynes employs his "Gibbytronics," a device that unleashes a barrage of vocal effects, and guitarist Paul Leary saws, soars, and does everything in between, while the lyrics paint character sketches of crippled midget lesbian boys and the like. Somehow the Surfers manage to turn all this chaos into art, and HAIRWAY stands as an underground classic, and probably the best example of the band's uniquely inspired lunacy.

• Genre: Pop
• Format: Vinyl
• Released: 10/29/2013