Praise the Lard! Jello is Back!

The third release from Lard is very similar to the first two, only the poiltics are updated.

The music is still driving, relentless, almost maddening... with very few transitions. But what did you expect? The music is Ministry, stupid. No one repeats those high-speed, in-your-face guitar riffs over and over (ad nauseum) quite like Alien Jourgensen and Co. do. At times the music seems like nothing more than air support for the real assault... the lyrics! The songs are politically bitter, angry and paranoid. But what did you expect? This is Jello Biafra, stupid. No one lays it on the line like Jello. Is he telling it like it is? Sure, there's truth in everything, y'know. Biafra seems to save his most extreme, far out musings for the Lard records. Perhaps hanging out with Ministry has this effect on people, I don't know. In any case, those not accustomed to the mind of Jello Biafra are warned not to start their experimentation here. Start out with more digestable fare such as Dead Kennedy's Plastic Surgery Disasters or Bedtime for Democracy and sort of work your way into Lard. It won't hurt to do a few hours of Ministry beforehand either.

Oddly enough, this disc, with eight tracks, is shorter than their three song debut ep.

In 'Faith, Hope and Treachery,' my favorite track, Jello wails, "Children of the '80s / Values shaped by Reagan greed / Don't stick long with anything / Going gets tough, change the channel and flee". The song ends with the phrase "It's always someone else's fault" repeated over and over. Is Jello imploring us to take responsibility for our actions? or has he finally given up on the very same generation that has supported his creative projects (and his record label) all these years? "Greed has made us lonely".

Pure Chewing Satisfaction comes with a densely packed booklet filled with interesting news clippings and photos. Assembled by Biafra and long time visual collaborator John Yates, this entertaining booklet is similar in nature to the newsprint issues of Fuck Facts! that used to accompany Jello's spoken word releases. There is a wealth of fascinating information to be found by reading this smattering of de-contextualized headlines, photos and paragraphs removed from their original articles. Some of the bits are added to illustrate absurdity such as the clipping that states: "Number of 'translators' commissioned last year by a Yale divinity student to convert the Bible into Klingon: 10". Here and there Jello the clip artist sneaks some valuable social philosophy to consider into the paste-up: "If tomorrow morning every woman in the U.S. looked in the mirror and said, 'Damn, I look perfect just the way I am,' the entire economic system of the country would collapse." As well, there are little snippets of info designed to make you pause... "The toe tag from the corpse of Lee Harvey Oswald reportedly sold at the auction for $8,000." There are literally hundreds of these little blurbs to read and consider. CD booklets such as this are easily as fun as the disc that accompany them and, when both are from the mind of Jello B, you know you're getting your socio-political money's worth.

Buy this disc. Play it loud. Take an analgesic.

-Mattro

Other Biafra related items...
Jello Biafra Discography