Although the Meat Puppets would later become best known for their intriguing blend of country, punk, rock, folk, psychedelia, and whatever else they could toss in their musical blender, the trio's 1982 self-titled full-length debut was a furious hardcore album. Totally ferocious and red hot, the album rarely lets up on its full-throttle attack -- Curt Kirkwood's vocals bear little resemblance to the wasted, off-key country-rock warbling on such seminal releases as Meat Puppets II and Up on the Sun; instead, the singing style consists of larynx-shredding screaming that renders the lyrics incomprehensible. Still, there's something special about such slop-rockers as "Love Offering," "Blue-Green God," "Saturday Morning," and "Our Friends." And as a sign of things to come, for a few brief fleeting moments, the band attempts to conquer country (on covers of "Walking Boss" and "Tumblin' Tumbleweeds"). The 1999 Rykodisc reissue more than doubled the original album's track listing, including their early In a Car EP and a total of 12 outtakes/demos, the best of the bunch being covers of the Stooges' "I Got a Right," Neil Young's "I Am a Child," and the Grateful Dead's "Franklin's Tower." ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide
Meat Puppets is the first LP by the Meat Puppets. The album is unlike any of their later, and more well-known, releases due to its hardcore punk sound. The inclusion of the country covers "Walking Boss" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," indicated that the band's musical taste and ability stretched beyond the hardcore genre.
The album was recorded very quickly and hastily in a matter of days, there are very few overdubs and many of the tracks are first takes. Like other early SST albums the sound quality is rather spotty; there is noticeable fuzz in the background of the music. The band opted for this because they felt more comfortable recording live with only a few microphones rather than employing conventional studio separation techniques. In 1999, Curt Kirkwood stated "The first [album] was our LSD record. We were three days in the studio, and we tripped the whole time. And it was really cool, and really trying, too, because we went insane."[1]
The 1999 Rykodisc reissue features the entire "In a Car" EP as well as 13 other bonus tracks, many of them studio jams or outtakes, and a video clip of the band performing "Walking Boss" live. The booklet also has liner notes by Gregg Turkington and recording notes by drummer Derrick Bostrom. It is often overshadowed by the their classic second album, Meat Puppets II, but many argue that this album is unique in its own right.
Tracks 20-32 are bonus tracks on the Rykodisc reissue.
Recording
All the songs on the original album are recorded in November 1981. Engineered by SPOT at Unicorn Studio 24 November 1981. Mixed by SPOT at Music Lab 10 May 1982 except "The Gold Mine" mixed by Laurie O'Connell & Ed Barger.
