Bad Livers Album Review:
A bit of everything, sure to disappoint the purist at 2001-06-05
If you like straight ahead folk and bluegrass, you may as well just move right along. The Bad Livers play a weird variety of bluegrass, rock, and anything else that suits their fancy. You can give some of the songs on here stupid names like Hick Hop if you really want to.For someone new to the Bad Livers, Id suggest Industry and Thrift (my favorite), or Delusions of Banjer instead of this release. Those are more consistent releases, with Industry showing off the eclectic nature of the band, and Banjer having a more conventional acoustic sound (but twisted attitude). If you really enjoyed Industry, Id say pick up this cd - its got some songs that shouldnt be missed.I gave this 3 stars mostly because its short, and even being short, theres some stuff that seems mostly just filler. The songs that are good are 4-5 stars, theres just not a whole lot of em. There are a couple of good rocking songs, mixing bluegrass and country rock sounds and strong catchy choruses (like Fist Magnet). Little Bitty Town is a nice acoustic number about being stuck in a small town without much to do but drink and dream of leaving. However, for every good strong song, theres something weak to match it. And then theres Losing Again, a hardcore thrash song which is ok, but seems to be on here mostly just to show that they can rock if they want to. The song is decent, but it makes for a pretty jarring listening experience.
Bad Livers Album Review:
genre bending (and just plain bent, too) at 2001-08-02
Blood and Mood is wacky, funny, musically engaging, and, above all, audacious. With its tongue-in-cheek blend of hill billy and punk rock, this is a CD that made me laugh out loud on the first listen. Blood and Mood offers a wide pallet of music, from tender ballads (ýLittle Bitty Town,ý) to flat-out punk rock material (complete with bandleader Danny Barnesý ever-present banjo picking and high, nasally Texan singing). Of particular note is the Bill Frisell (jazz guitarist) influence in the guitar chord voicings of Little Bitty Town. (Frisell and Barnes have been working together a lot lately.) This is a CD that will probably fall, unlistened, through the cracks between alternative rock and traditional acoustic music, but I love it. Five stars.
Bad Livers Album Review:
Untraditonal Traditonal Sounds at 2001-09-20
The Bad Livers Blood and Mood isnt a background album. By background album I mean one of those records you put on and wash dishes too. Blood and Mood is a complex record that demands the listeners complete attention. What the deal is is youre going to have to get over there and figure out what thats all about, the repeated loop that starts the album, could be applied to this release. Barnes and Rubin team up again with Lloyd Maines to produce this musical journey. The Bad Livers follow the same path they have been on - they create more untraditional music with traditional instruments. What the Livers have done is taken a touch of country (The Legend of Sawdust Boogers), a touch of folk (Itty Bitty Town), and a touch of rock (One More Night in a Hotel) added some banjo and tuba and then layered the songs with loops, samples and sequenced drums. The result is a sometimes harsh, sometimes sweet, dizzying display of musicianship. Each song challenges the listener to enter into it world and try to figure out how life there operates. If you are a music fan of any type, you should enjoy this album. If you are looking for something to play while you wash dishes, move on.
Bad Livers Album Review:
man at 2006-06-10
how can you not love this CD? When I got it, it was like a lightning from the blue sky! I listened to it daily for months and could not get enough of it. If you are a bluegrass purist, you are gonna hate it, but if you love mind-bending stuff, there is nothing better that I know of.....
Bad Livers Album Review:
Not your typical retro-grass..... at 2003-09-23
An odd-ball entry to the Bad Livers catalog. I think that this release was a calculated move by them, kinda an upraised middle finger at everyone that whined that they werent traditional enough on their more blue-grassy albums.Still lots here to enjoy - its interesting that of their albums, this one shows the most influence of their fellow-Austinite buddies the Butthole Surfers, even though its one of the few where none of them were involved with the project. Several of the ambient-sound tracks that are between the actual songs are reminiscent of Locust Abortion Technician era Surfers.Highlights are Love Songs Suck, Fist Magnet and Losing Again, the last of which benefits from some cool steel guitar by guest Lloyd Maines.As other reviewers have mentioned, if youre just now getting into the Livers, you may want to pick up Delusions of Banjer or Hogs in the Highway first, and come back to this `un. Also recommended is Danny Barnes post-Livers output with The Old Codgers and Rubins with the Bing Bang Boys. Both releases are more in the acoustic/folkie category....


Bad Livers Album Editorial:
The Stanley Brothers on LSD? Banjo-driven hip-hop? Though the Bad Livers have defied categorization for more than a decade--since their early days of transforming Iggy Pop and Metallica tunes into bluegrass breakdowns--here they push the technological envelope like never before. The result is a vibrantly mutant strain of mountain music one that finds electric guitars rhythm loops and country-fried samples reinforcing the creative interplay of frontman Danny Barnes and bassist-sidekick Mark Rubin. Most audaciously Im Losing opens with a ferocity that leaves most punk rock in shreds before resolving itself into a mad honky-tonk medley of Buck Owens Tammy Wynette and Merle Haggard (with some gorgeous steel guitar from producer Lloyd Maines). From the surprisingly melodic lilt of the ominously titled Death Trip to the bluesy lament of Love Songs Suck the music proceeds organically by instinct rather than calculation--like blood and mood. Don McLeese

Bad Livers Album Review:
The Bad Livers do Gospel right! at 2000-08-09
OK, youve enjoyed the bluegrass romps on Delusions of Banjuer and Hogs On The Highway, been baffled yet grown to love the experimentation of Blood and Mood and Industry and Thrift - What next?Time to go to church!Originally recorded in 1991 as a Christmas present for Danny Barness folks, this was later sold on cassette at their gigs. As more and more people requested it, eventually they went ahead and dropped it on CD. The result- 10 (or 13, depending on how you count the medley) excellent gospel tunes, ranging from the obscure (Jesus Is On the Mainline) to the very, very familiar (I Saw The Light, Will The Circle Be Unbroken). A surprisingly reverent album, and a joy to listen to.Its a real treat to have around when the grandparents are over, you have a Bad Livers jones, and you dont think that they would appreciate hearing Pee-Pee The Sailor.I also highly recommend swinging by the Bad Livers website and picking up the CD AKA Mad Cat Trio, for a great set of Bluegrass and Ragtime tunes. As far as I know, thats the only place to pick it up, although it is certainly as good as any of their major label releases. (Which of course means that it is excellent!)


Bad Livers Album Editorial:
The initial recordings of these Texas punk-bluegrass heroes Bad Livers IDust on the Bible dusts off 10 country-gospel classics that banjoist-guitarist Danny Barnes first learned as a boy sitting next to his Grandma in Church. The gospel standards here--everything from roof raisers like Workin on a Building to sweet hymns like Precious Memories--offer a gentler version of the bands music than weve come to expect one filled with a moving and abiding reverence for country tradition that you always suspected was behind the bands more frenzied material but which has never before been so prominently displayed. Recorded on four-track in Barness spare bedroom in 1991 each cut here has the casual charm of a back-porch jam session but the spirited bluegrass medley of I Saw the Light Will the Circle Be Unbroken and Ill Fly Away probably soars closest to heaven. David Cantwell

Bad Livers Album Review:
Bluegrass punk at 2003-12-11
Quite possibly the weirdest thing i have heard ever heard. i cant stop listening to it.
Bad Livers Album Review:
These guys are GREAT! at 1999-01-08
I own this disc, as well as Hogs on the Highway, and I really like them both. I thought they were pretty bizarre, and then I saw them in person. Now I listen to these discs all the time. These guys are definitely different and, instead of being defensive about it, they revel in it. Their live show is a hoot, and the discs are too.Be prepared to be surprised if you buy this disc. There is a good chance youve never heard ANYTHING like the Bad Livers!
Bad Livers Album Review:
same ol tasty meal at 1998-12-02
The hard thing is determining whether it is subliminal jesus or just sumpin they playin again. Truth is, eveything they do is good, no matter whos in the band. Compare anything on this with the badness of pop song-craftsmenship today. Real music is real music, and listening to this is way better then traveling to Austin. Maybe the fugees could sample this tuba to win the hearts of music critics? Dont you think people gotta play music, or at least write music to be considered musicians? Thanks, lumpy, beanpole, and dirt.
Bad Livers Album Review:
Bad Livers Mix Metaphors and Music For A Big Bluegrass Mush at 1998-11-12
On their new release, Industry and Thrift, Bad Livers continue to confuse and confound. From the first song, Lumpy, Beanpole and Dirt (and later on with such trad-grass faves as Doin My Time and Cannonball Rag), the listener might understandably conclude that Bad Livers have hit mainstream bluegrass. But ye do not be deceived! In fact, just when you think that Livers have lost their old edge in favor of a hillbilly hoe-down, they swing back with a dose of hard-core (well, as hardcore as you can get with a core or banjo, bass, guitar and tuba). The wildly changing sounds of Industry and Thrift will certainly limit their longevity on all but the most difficult college radio and likely find similar suffering in sales. Probably the worst offense is the Livers apparent out of control ego -- or label ineptitude -- that resulted in an appalling lack of information in the CD booklet (if you can call it that). One can clearly hear the contributions of other players, but judging from the notes it seems that no one else had anything to do with this disc other than the dynamic duo. I cant imagine that this lack of information will endear the Livers to other reviewers. Maybe thats the point--to have writers focus on the music and not personalities (other than their own, of course). If thats the case then Industry and Thrift really shines the spotlight on brilliant songwriter and instrumentalist Danny Barnes. His contributions really seem to carry the album and his other Liver, Mark Rubin, seems ultimately superfluous. The oddly melodic and nasally nascent compositions of Barnes reach new peaks with sublime highlights like Honey, Ive Found A Brand New Way/Its All The Same To Me and Captain, Oh Captain. Bass and tuba blowhard Rubin once again scores with solid rhythm to Dannys craftwork. Throwing in a pitch for his pet project, Rubin injects some wildly out of place Okie-klezmer into the stew with the A Yid Ist Geboren Inz Oklahoma. Overall, Industry and Thrift is an interesting mix of styles and sounds and leaves you yearning, once again, for some good old Motorhead covers. Now thats bluegrass.


Bad Livers Album Editorial:
Since 1992s IDelusions of Banjer Bad Livers have been sowing a great wild hybrid of bluegrass picking and punk abandon. Six years later IIndustry and Thrift shows these boys working familiar fields on scorching bluegrassers such as Im Goin Back to Mom and Dad. But theyre harvesting some unexpected crops this time too: the Cali country-rock choruses of Its All the Same to Me for example and a Stevie Ray Vaughan-like blues-rock version of Flatt Scruggss Doin My Time not to mention some twangy klezmer jams and silent-movie-era jazz--all of it held together by sheer quality and the general lack of anything resembling industry or thrift. Thats how the sorry characters here came to have or be bad livers in the first place. David Cantwell

Bad Livers Album Review:
it grows on you at 1998-08-07
This is a cd that took awhile to get used to. Its alot of fun, and it gets better each time you listen to it. Give it a try if you like bluegrass without all the twang.
Bad Livers Album Review:
The best place to start... at 2000-08-09
If you like Ry Cooder, Taj Majal, New Lost City Ramblers, etc., or are simply looking to expand your musical horizons, this is a great place to start.Bluegrass, Jugband, Cajun and Tejano all manage to find their way onto this disc, which is probably the most accessible of the Bad Livers efforts. I bought it when it first came out, and it hasnt been out of my CD changer since.


Bad Livers Album Editorial:
Innovation is all about the collision of previously established styles and Danny Barness Bad Livers offer a particularly striking series of violent stylistic encounters. Bluegrass blues ragtime old-time country Cajun and conjunto bounce around their cauldron with reckless abandon. In truth this kind of potent mixture is ages old dating back to early 20th-century string bands and extending through much of 1930s Western swing. Barness lyrics add a dose of 1990s irony to traditional themes although they fit rather well next to old-time romps such as Cluck Old Hen. The Livers freewheeling attitude and lighthearted approach balance nicely with their serious instrumental chops. Marc Greilsamer

Bad Livers Album Review:
You cant be sad listening to a banjo at 2000-10-12
This is a very energetic bluegrass CD. The music is completely organic with no pretense to be anything besides bluegrass. Whats interesting is I own not other music like this (the CD was a present) yet I love listening to this. Maybe the best part of the CD is the addition of the barking dog chorus.