Probably known best for Justin Broadrick's short stint as the band’s drummer, Head of David's brief career produced two of the best noise rock albums ever (LP and Dustbowl), two great EPs (Saveana Mixes and White Elephant) and one mediocre at best industrial pop/rock disc (Seed State). They were at their best here, churning out bleak, murky sounds that emphasize riffs, atmosphere, as well as a touch of pure noise.
I've heard term "industrial" applied to Head of David more than once, and I find it hard to fully embrace.While they certainly had the desolate, post-apocalyptic sensibilities that Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire pioneered, they sonically owed a lot more to Black Sabbath and early Swans, with a twinge of Big Black thrown in for good measure.That, motorcycles, black leather, and a few too many viewings of Easy Rider and Apocalypse Now is really what LP (or CD, depending on the format) is all about.
Other than bassist Dave Cochrane, the members of Head of David were never active outside of this project.Drummer Paul Sharp (Broadrick only played on Dustbowl and Saveana Mixes) and guitarist Eric Jurenovskis have seemingly no credits outside of the band, and vocalist Stephen R. Burroughs only recently appeared on one of the Sunn O))) tribute singles.
In actuality, LP is a bit odd for a traditional "album":The first four tracks are the "Dogbreath" EP, and the final four were culled from a 1986 BBC session.However, the result is a wonderfully consistent album, but admittedly the BBC produced tracks on the second half sound notably cleaner than the muffled, muddy first half.
I've always felt some kinship between Head of David and Loop, though other than the Justin Broadrick/Robert Hampson connection via Godflesh, I don't think the two projects ever collaborated. Where Loop was more tuned to the psychedelic, spacy elements of the era, Head of David was all about the darker end of the 1960s and early '70s, pretty much defined by the murder at the Rolling Stones concert at Altamont.
This parallel between the two is definitely enhanced by the fact that 1: I first started listening to both artists at around the same period in my life (because of my love for Godflesh and Main) and 2: Both covered Suicide’s "Rocket USA" on their debuts in their own unique way.While Loop's version emphasized the psychedelia:Martin Rev's organ was replaced with Hampson's effects-laden guitar, Head of David focused on the tension and bleakness.With a rhythmic backing of numbing repetition, Burroughs' vocals do an admirable job capturing the alternating calm and frantic outbursts of Alan Vega.
The early Swans influence is most clearly heard on the slower, meandering tracks like "White Bastard" or "Joyride Burning X," both of which plod along at a sluggish pace, but enshrouded by white-hot guitar noise. On the opposite side of the spectrum are pummeling, rapid fire tracks like "Smears" and "I'll Fall At Your Feet," the former especially marrying squalling, high pitched guitars with a deep, distorted bass line and machine gun like drumming.
One of my personal favorites on the album, and in their entire discography, has always been "Shadow Hills California," which is actually catchy, rather than simply brutal and heavy.With its moderate pace and verse/chorus/verse structure, it’s one of their most memorable songs (along with "Dog Day Sunrise" and "Jack Nicholson"), even with the lyrics that are the perfect antithesis of every 1960s feel good summer pop song.
A couple of years ago the original Head of David lineup reformed to play a few shows in Europe, and word was that new material could have been in the pipeline, as well as remastered reissues of their previous work.As of now, this still hasn’t come to pass, but I'm holding out hope that one day remastered, expanded deluxe editions of at least LP and Dustbowl will appear, but until then I'll keep with the discs I have.As far as I'm concerned, it's one of those albums that has contributed to so many genres it's hard to count.Sludge, doom, metal, stoner rock, and the infinite number of permutations of them owe a huge debt to Head of David.
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