Blubberknife
Blubberknife (also known as Many a Wonderful Picnic Has Been Ruined by Blubberknife) is the third studio album released by the Australian experimental group Severed Heads, originally as a C90 cassette tape. The first approximately 200 copies were packaged inside cassette cases that were spray-painted silver, stuffed with loose cassette tape and had parts from the insides of television sets glued to the front of the case. Five copies were specially packaged inside fully operational calculators.[1] It's the first album by the group to feature contributions by Stephen Jones, and it is also the first recording by the group to catch the attention of UK label Ink Records, who helped release Since the Accident a year later[2] and reissued Blubberknife in a standard cassette case with new artwork in 1984. As with most of their discography, Blubberknife has been reissued several times.
| Blubberknife | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1982 | |||
| Recorded | 1981-1982 | |||
| Genre | Industrial, experimental | |||
| Length | 77:32 119:22 (Sevcom Reissue) | |||
| Label | Terse Tapes | |||
| Severed Heads chronology | ||||
| ||||
Track listing
Original C90 cassette (Terse Tapes (Australia)--TRS822–1982; Ink (UK)--IT 00A—1984)
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Adolf a Carrot?" | 3:41 |
| 2. | "Rocket Summer [Live at Stranded Nightclub, 8 April 1982]" | 33:54 |
| 3. | "Deano's Couch" | 2:33 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 4. | "An American in Paris/Tarzan's Grip" | 7:42 |
| 5. | "Umbrella" | 4:24 |
| 6. | "Lower Than the Grave" | 8:05 |
| 7. | "J. Edgar Hoover/CMID [Live]" | 10:08 |
| 8. | "Ad Infinitum" | 7:05 |
Double C90 cassette reissue (Terse Tapes (Australia)--Terse 881–1988)
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Saturday Night" | |
| 2. | "Man Dat Hip" | |
| 3. | "An American in Paris" | |
| 4. | "Tarzan's Grip" | |
| 5. | "That That Revolves" | |
| 6. | ""Malt Duck" Stream-of-Conscieusness (sic) Mix: Malt Duck/Never Fall in Love/Nazi Beach Party [Live at ICE, 17.9.80]" | |
| 7. | "Relic of the Empire #2" | |
| 8. | "Tiny Fingers" | |
| 9. | "Sydney Quads + The Megascope Space Probe" | |
| 10. | "Play It Again" | |
| 11. | "Carry My Books" | |
| 12. | "Nightsong [Live at ICE, 3.1.81]" | |
| 13. | "Car Advertisement" |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Introduction" (Uncredited in the packaging) | |
| 2. | "Adolf a Carrot?" | |
| 3. | "Rocket Summer [Live at Stranded, 4.1982]" | |
| 4. | "Deano's Couch" |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Power Circles" | |
| 2. | "Blame" | |
| 3. | "Alaskan Polar Bear Heater" | |
| 4. | "Umbrella" | |
| 5. | "Lower Than the Grave" | |
| 6. | "J. Edgar Hoover [Live at Killayoni, 3.82]" | |
| 7. | "CMID [Live at Killayoni, 3.82]" | |
| 8. | "Exiles Excerpt [Live at Exiles, 7.8.1981]" |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "A Day in the Country" | |
| 2. | "Elephant dB [Live at Stranded, 9.7.1982]" | |
| 3. | "The Monkey is Safe" | |
| 4. | "Golden Boy [Live at Trade Union Club, 24.4.1983]" | |
| 5. | "Desert Song" | |
| 6. | "? [AKA This Song Does Not Exist]" | |
| 7. | "Dance" | |
| 8. | "Ad Infinitum" |
This reissue incorporated almost all of the contents of the 1985 2LP release Clifford Darling Please Don't Live in the Past.
Double CD-R/Bandcamp download reissue (SevCom (Australia)--2002)
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Introduction" | 0:59 |
| 2. | "Adolph a Karrot?" | 3:41 |
| 3. | "Rocket Summer (A)" | 1:18 |
| 4. | "Rocket Summer (B)" | 3:00 |
| 5. | "Rocket Summer (C)" | 3:32 |
| 6. | "Rocket Summer (D)" | 3:03 |
| 7. | "Rocket Summer (E)" | 3:56 |
| 8. | "Rocket Summer (F)" | 2:16 |
| 9. | "Rocket Summer (G)" | 4:33 |
| 10. | "Rocket Summer (H)" | 3:36 |
| 11. | "Rocket Summer (I)" | 3:26 |
| 12. | "Rocket Summer (J)" | 5:15 |
| 13. | "Deano's Couch" | 2:33 |
| 14. | "An American in Paris" | 4:08 |
| 15. | "Tarzan's Grip" | 3:34 |
| 16. | "Umbrella" | 4:24 |
| 17. | "Lower Than the Grave" | 8:05 |
| 18. | "Ad Infinitum" | 7:05 |
| Total length: | 68:23 | |
3-12 are the full live performance at the Stranded Club, divided into tracks based on the main tape loop used in that part. The Bandcamp version restored these to one 33:54 track, and also combined 14 and 15 into one track (7:42).
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "At the Piano [Live, Killayoni Club]" | 4:05 |
| 2. | "CMID [Live, Killayoni Club]" | 5:37 |
| 3. | "J. Edgar Hoover [Live, Killayoni Club]" | 4:31 |
| 4. | "Knockers [Live, Killayoni Club]" | 5:56 |
| 5. | "Singing in the Rain [Live, Killayoni Club]" | 3:24 |
| 6. | "Petrol [Live, Metro Screen]" | 4:33 |
| 7. | "Lower Than the Grave [Live, Metro Screen]" | 8:54 |
| 8. | "Nightsong [Live, Metro Screen]" | 13:59 |
| Total length: | 50:59 | |
Early releases of the CD-R set divided "Nightsong [Live]" into the main track (9:29) and an untitled ninth track (4:30).
Personnel
- Tom Ellard - synthesizers, tape loops
- Simon Knuckey - guitars
- Garry Bradbury - synthesizers, tape loops
- Richard Fielding - synthesizers, tape loops
- Stephen Jones - video synthesizers, artwork
- Grahame Brown - recording on "Rocket Summer"
- Philip Samartzis - recording on "J. Edgar Hoover" and "CMID"
References
- Ellard, Tom. "Objects". sevcom.nilamox.com. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- Radio, Joe. "Interview: Severed Heads". Eyesore.no. Eyesore. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
External links
- Blubberknife at Discogs (list of releases)