Big Black - Heartbeat

(Touch and Go, 1987)

I saw the Big Black reunion show in Chicago a few years ago, and I remember two things, one general and one specific. General memory: The music was totally intense and tightly-wound. Specific memory: Some guy yelled, “Albini, you’re a fuckin’ fag!,” really, really loudly. Anyway, it was all exciting enough to light a fire under my wallet and get me to finally buy up the entire discography as quickly as I could. Good thing, too, cuz these discs are a swift kick to every buttock that encounters ’em, each one a nasty little addition to your record heap. Take this single, for example, which rocks its shit in three distinct ways. “Heartbeat,” a Wire cover, isn’t as grinding as most Big Black material; this one is all about jagged, slashing guitar that’s rhythmic enough to approach chug, though unlike the Wire version, the effect is less a heartbeat than it is a jackhammer. Might as well point out that when he works himself up into a howling frenzy, Albini’s shredded vocal on here is startlingly Cobain-esque. Pre-Cobain. We’re on more familiar turf with the pounding, near-industrial relentlessness of “Things to Do Today,” but I’ll dock the band a few points for those tinny vocals, which don’t nearly pull their weight as they get overwhelmed by the muscular musical backing. Then, to wrap things up, it’s a quick burst of metallic rockabilly instrumental fun (“I Can’t Believe”), which, while tight, feels like a throwaway rehearsal jam. An impressively varied single, this, all of it heavy in different fashions… like a bully that can kick you around in new and creative ways every day of the week. Oh, and remember, you: It’s all compiled on The Rich Man’s Eight Track Tape, so that’s probably the most efficient way to get your mitts on this stuff.