Hairway to Steven

Released

The songs on Hairway To Steven originally had only small stick-figure drawings for titles, but they were eventually titled in a more conventional manner. The opening “Jimi” is a nearly 13-minute showcase for guitarist Paul Leary’s post-Hendrixian wailing, as Gibby Haynes roars “What do you know about death? I am death” and the like in an electronically lowered voice. If you don’t listen to the lyrics, “Ricky” and “Rocky” (and “I Saw An X-Ray Of A Girl Passing Gas”) could almost be conventional college rock (as it was known back then), but “John E. Smoke,” with its dubbed-in applause and waves of post-Beat nonsense from Haynes, is the album’s moment of peak Butthole-ism, bafflingly hilarious while still obviously the product of people who know exactly what they’re doing.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
Simulacrum cover

Simulacrum

John Zorn
Crypt-Style! cover

Crypt-Style!

the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Fever Bed cover

Fever Bed

Mat Maneri
Hz cover

Hz

Main
Chimaera cover

Chimaera

Emmeluth's Amoeba
Fanfare for the Warriors cover

Fanfare for the Warriors

Art Ensemble of Chicago
Dark Magus cover

Dark Magus

Miles Davis