''Shot'' is an album by the band

The Jesus Lizard The Jesus Lizard is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas by vocalist David Yow, guitarist Duane Denison and bassist David Wm. Sims. They relocated to Chicago, Illinois, in 1989, where they found kindred spirits in ...

, its first release on

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

. Some copies of the album were accompanied by a documentary titled "Sho(r)t".

Production

Impressed by his work on the album ''

Houdini Erik Weisz (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926), known professionally as Harry Houdini ( ), was a Hungarian-American escapologist, illusionist, and stunt performer noted for his escape acts. Houdini first attracted notice in vaudeville in ...

'' by

Melvins Melvins (sometimes the Melvins) are an American rock band formed in 1983 in Montesano, Washington. Their early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. Primarily a trio, they have also performed as a quartet, with eith ...

, the band hired producer

GGGarth Garth "GGGarth" Richardson, (born ), is a Canadian record producer and sound engineer. He is the son of music producer Jack Richardson. He has worked with such musical acts as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Motley Crüe, Nickelback, Rage Against the ...

to record ''Shot''. Of note on the album is the very different production of

David Yow David Lambeth Yow (; born August 2, 1960) is an American musician and actor born in Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas, Nevada and best known as the vocalist for the noise rock bands Scratch Acid and the Jesus Lizard. Yow's debut solo album, ''Tonight ...

's vocals, which are now much clearer and higher in the mix than on previous recordings. ''Shot'' is the first studio album by the band that was not recorded by

Steve Albini Steven Frank Albini (; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (band), ...

. It has been widely held that Steve Albini refused to work with the band because they had signed to a major label, although Albini himself denied this in comments made to a review of the 2009 reissue of the Touch and Go catalog that appears on the ''Paste Magazine'' web site.

Critical reception

''Shot'' became the band's only album to chart in the US, as it peaked at No. 28 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'''s

Top Heatseekers The Heatseekers charts were "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales b ...

chart. ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' wrote that "songs like 'Thumbscrews' and 'Skull of a German' prove Yow hasn’t lost anything in terms of horror-storytelling, but his stab at 'singing' (much in the manner he employed in his Scratch Acid days) is ill-advised." ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

'' wrote that ''Shot'' "features avid Wm.Sims’ best bass playing," praising "the spiralling flourish at 2:37 on 'Skull Of A German'." '' Perfect Sound Forever'' wrote that "even though the band is bathed in 'clean' conventional studio mix, they are still the Jesus Lizard and that means dark, ugly and weird." '' The Rough Guide to Rock'' called the album "another wedge of death-metal-grunge that showed little sign of burnout."

Track listing

All songs written by the Jesus Lizard. # "Thumper" – 3:31 # "Blue Shot" – 4:13 # "Thumbscrews" – 3:10 # "Good Riddance" – 3:15 # "Mailman" – 3:26 # "Skull of a German" – 3:42 # "Trephination" – 3:34 # "More Beautiful Than Barbie" – 2:50 # "Too Bad About the Fire" – 4:00 # "Churl" – 2:53 # "Now Then" – 2:34 # "Inamorata" – 3:05 # "Pervertedly Slow" – 2:40 # "Shut Up" (Japanese CD only bonus track) – 1:20 # "Bad Guy" (Japanese CD only bonus track) – 2:20

Personnel

- producer *Jeff Lane and GGGarth - engineer *

Joe Barresi Joe Barresi (nicknamed "Evil Joe") is an American record engineer and producer who has worked with Kyuss, The Melvins, Tool, Chevelle, Apocalyptica, Queens of the Stone Age, Coheed and Cambria, Tomahawk, L7, The Jesus Lizard, Parkway Drive ...

- mixing *Chad Bamford - second mixing engineer *Howie Weinberg - mastering *Michael Lavine - photography

References

External links

- Steve Albini discusses getting fired by the band in the comments below the review.
{{Authority control 1996 albums The Jesus Lizard albums Capitol Records albums Albums produced by Garth Richardson