Opening track Boilermaker shudders the Lp alive with vocalist David Yow pleading for someone to make him another beer topped with whiskey. Yep, that's a boilermaker in the US of A. The jolting and dizzy inducing rhythms of this first track are just the start of some amazing elastic playing on Liar. Drummer Mac Mcneilly in particular is a master of his instrument, hitting the skins with sublime subtlety and power. The guitar of Duane Denison and bass of David Sims move wherever the drums go with rivetting sparseness, and there is no showing off from any of them. The histrionics are the job of Yow, whose drunken paranoid yelps, shouts and screams are as comic as they are scary. And even though Albini keeps them on a similar mix level to the other instruments his vocals still jump out at you with their sheer otherness.

Second track Gladiator is my personal favourite. The tension and drama of the way it builds on the most simple hook is mesmerising. The way Marquee Moon by Television builds but only much faster and harder. And the crescendo must have left Yow coughing and spluttering on the floor. On Slave Ship Yow curses the rain and bitches about blisters and his finger nails falling off, while the band cracks the whip with its slow torturous and weird melodic grind. Puss was the hit single, a split 7" with superstars Nirvana, who realised they had to put one of their best songs on the record just to except a credible second best. I have to hand it to Nirvana though, they didn't do a video just so Jesus Lizard could get a lot of the exposure from the release. I remember Top of the Pops playing the video to Puss, but only for about thirty seconds.Those bastards.

Zachariah is the slowest and saddest track on the Lp, with it's memorable lamenting guitar lines. Yow sings about one man walking into a town, and "Like Moses, the town folded like the Red sea". I can't help thinking that this is a metaphor for corporations like Starbucks or Macdonalds setting up in towns and cities and us ordinary folk simlpy allowing it to happen. Maybe I'm projecting a bit here, but it's an old story that can be interpreted in a modern way. Final track Dancing Naked Ladies is one of the finest tracks on the Lp for me. It has some of Yow's best gargles and muffled yowls, almost like he is putting his hand over his mouth at times to stop some bad demons from entering the world. And the music is the band at their sinister best, like a cat going through it's best moves and then coming to get you. I don't listen to anywhere near as much crazy noise type stuff nowadays, but if I do there is always a good chance it will be Liar. Chris Lee

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