Chris Knox - Meat (1993)

A handy collection that pulls together most but not all of the Seizure and Croaker albums for American fans, Meat doesn't contain any rarities (and those of a completist bent will likely want to hunt down the original releases). That's quibbling, though, because it's a humdinger of a disc that any newcomers to Knox and his work will want to hunt down without delay. Warm liner notes from Knox himself (along with a hilarious self-caricature that says "Hi Alec" in reference to Knox's Tall Dwarfs partner) note that a separate vinyl release contained the remaining songs from the two albums. As a result, the interested listener "will be able to rest easy and devote your leisure time to growing small bodily cancers." There is one fun ringer on the record, though: "1954," appearing from 1982's Songs for Cleaning Guppies album, specifically included because otherwise the American company wouldn't release it! All that aside, anything with such brilliant songs on it as "The Woman Inside of Me," "Meat," "Liberal Backlash Angst," and especially the utterly wonderful love song "Not Given Lightly" -- winningly off psych-inspired fun from a master at just that kind of music -- is well worth the listening. All that and a photo of Knox wearing, of course, a meat mask.

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