Alien Sex Fiend, The Legendary Batcave Tapes

For a band who have almost as many musical touchstones as they do letters in their name (psychadelia, surf, synth, dub, rockabilly, ambient, blah, blah, blah) yet still retain an unmistakable quality that tells you in no uncertain terms who the hell is making that racket, "The Legendary Batcave Tapes" is something of an oddity. Demos recorded before the band had ever played live, the songs here have a tinny sound that dampens the usually brazen and all-consuming din that the Fiend's music typically inhabits. Pleasantly, this doesn't make the album a waste (although it probably doesn't serve as a good introduction for newcomers), but instead turns the music on its head. The Fiend becomes a bedroom band, the music is, no foolin', introspective, and the whole affair becomes the soundtrack to sitting in a sparse kitchen at three am, a single lightbulb dangling above your cup of lukewarm tea, and wondering why the lino keeps moving. Consider the way Nik introduces "In Heaven": "This is the tenth of July. The time is 4:14 and forty seconds past the hour...It's mighty hot in here...Okay, Davey-boy, let's rock..." But they don't (rock, that is). A simple drumline gets some dressing from a thinly-spread, fuzzed-out wicki-wacka guitar (way low in the mix). Strangely enough, this collection of songs that the liner notes (citing Melody Maker) try to tell you make "The Birthday Party [sound] like the Go-Go's" ends up as a hint of the ambient soundscapes Alien Sex Fiend would later begin to explore once keyboards became a more prominent part of their arsenal.

The requisite cover of "School's Out" (Nik's always cited Alice Cooper as his primary influence, alongside Dali) that closes this disc is pretty much the only track that bursts past the restrictions of low-fi recording and blusters with the noise, fury and fun that lay ahead of the Fiend.

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