From the Vault: BIG UGLY MOUTH

Confession time. I'm a stone cold sucker for albums that the creators have grown to hate. There's just something about musicians fucking up and then willfully presenting said fuck up for mass adulation by hungry fans that intrigues me. I don't blame the artist, hindsight is sometimes a bitch, but these albums are, more often than not, terrible. I'm thinking Celtic Frost's "Cold Lake", Pantera's "Metal Magic," and -gulp- Burzum's "Baldr's Death." 

Every once in a while, an album that an artist has cast aside as garbage ends up being excellent. The entirety of the Hellhammer discography, for example. "Big Ugly Mouth," an album of spoken word material by punk poet Henry Rollins, fits this mold nicely. Recorded live in 1987 at multiple U.S shows, it is some of Rollins earliest recorded spoken world material. 

Rollins is interesting because it's almost like he came into the artistic world fully formed, beginning as the Mishima-esque bastion of thoughtful masculinity, a place where he still resides. 

Big Ugly Mouth certainly has some cracks. Rollins performance can be a little bit amateurish, he stumbles over words and occasionally has trouble controlling the volume of his voice but the material, the stories he  tells and the advice he offers are classic Rollins, to the point and profound. 

Production is raw. You can really tell that he recorded this right after leaving Black Flag. He had little money and it shows. It sounds tinny and the crowd's laughter can overpower Rollins' speaking.

Highlights include "Short Story," a comedic story about hotel sex,  and"Boy On A Train," a poignant tale of racial injustice.

This is an album for those who seek the genesis of Henry Rollins' spoken word. Despite it's rough production and Henry's occasional performance folly's, this record offers humor, humility, and pathos. Recommended.