''Taint Pluribus Taint Unum'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by the Minneapolis-based

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...

band

Cows Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...

, released in 1987 through Treehouse Records.

Music

The first track of the album, "

Koyaanisqatsi ''Koyaanisqatsi'' is a 1982 American non-narrative documentary film directed and produced by Godfrey Reggio, featuring music by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke. Described as an "essay in images and sound on the state of American ...

," is a cover of the intro piece from the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

film of the same name.

Release and reception

The record was released for a limited time on

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

and has since gone out of print. Unlike its successors, no songs from ''Taint Pluribus Taint Unum'' appeared on the ''

Old Gold 1989–1991 ''Old Gold (1989–1991)'' is a compilation album by American noise rock band Cows. It is composed of material from three of their earlier albums ''Daddy Has a Tail'', '' Effete and Impudent Snobs'', and '' Peacetika''. Track listing # "Shaking ...

'' compilation. AllMusic staff writer John Dougan gave the album four and a half out of five stars, calling it "the Cows at their most impenetrable and noisy" and that "fans of Japanese noise acts like the Boredoms and some of John Zorn's more extreme jazzcore outfits might think this is pretty cool." ''Alternative Rock'' wrote: "Tragically badly recorded though it is, the screaming, grinding, honking mess which occasionally pulls itself into something like music sounds ''great'' at 3 in the morning."

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from the ''Taint Pluribus Taint Unum'' liner notes. ;Cows *

Thor Eisentrager Thor Eisentrager is a founding member and former guitarist for the Minneapolis-based Noise rock-outfit, the Cows. After the release of the Cows's ninth album, '' Sorry in Pig Minor'', Thor announced that he had grown tired of touring and left th ...

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

* Sandris Rutmanis –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Kevin Rutmanis Kevin Rutmanis (born October 17, 1958) is an American bass guitarist. He is of Latvian descent. Before getting into music, he was a student teacher. In late 1985, along with his younger brother Sandris Rutmanis, Thor Eisentrager, and then Jayh ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

Shannon Selberg Shannon Scott Selberg (born June 3, 1960) is a noise/punk rock musician known for his unusual antics on stage. Formerly the frontman for the Minneapolis-based group The Cows, Selberg provided lead vocals, trumpet, bugle and hardcore guitar.Robbi ...

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

bugle The bugle is a simple signaling brass instrument with a wide conical bore. It normally has no valves or other pitch-altering devices, and is thus limited to its natural harmonic notes, and pitch is controlled entirely by varying the air a ...

;Production and additional personnel * Steve Björklund – assistant engineering, assistant production *

– assistant production * John Largaespada –

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product, such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album ar ...

* Brian Paulson –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1987 debut albums Cows (band) albums