Jay Reatard – Blood Visions LP

The guitar tone is fuzzy, but through the fuzz you can hear the intricate licks that Mr. Reatard is laying down. The bass and drums don't quite carry as much of the musical weight, but those instruments are not necessarily Mr. Reatard's forte. The vocal delivery, however, carries much of the weight on this album. Reatard's nasally, faux-British warble is reminiscent of early British punks, and gives the album a strange, paranoid feel. That paranoia is at its peak in the songs "Death Is Forming" and "I See You Standing There" when the vocals speed up to a frenzy.

Some listeners may find some of the lyrics over-the-top (i.e. "Fading All Away"'s "Time / will heal wounds / but I / will kill you / slowly / fading all away"), but then, they probably wouldn't by the album anyway based on the album cover. Other than killing people slowly, lyrical themes include men in garbage cans drinking piss from jars ("Puppet Man"), shadows ("My Shadow") and the Reatard family ("My Family").
(Fat Possum/ 2009)
 

Tracklist:
A1 Blood Visions
A2 Greed, Money, Useless Children
A3 It's So Easy
A4 My Shadow
A5 My Family
A6 Death Is Forming
A7 Oh It's Such A Shame
A8 Not A Substitute
B1 Nightmares
B2 I See You Standing There
B3 We Who Wait
B4 Fading All Away
B5 Turning Blue
B6 Puppet Man
B7 Waiting For Something