Big Black - Pigpile

Recorded at a London date on the band's final tour and released five years after the fact, the set list of Pigpile draws on the band's entire career and as such, provides a good equivalent to a greatest-hits set played live. All three members play with the brisk efficiency that defines their studio work, with the relentless drum machine stomping all before it. The taste of the band's live work from Atomizer, a take on "Cables," only scratched the surface when it came to such stuff. Hearing Albini's often distorted or mixed-down vocals clearly for once is a definite change, and while he spends time in the liner notes dismissing overt speculation about his lyrics, there's no question that he had a knack for putting together the right images with the music. Read More