* PREORDER * BUTTHOLE SURFERS - Humpty Dumpty LSD 2LP

* PREORDER * expected to arrive for Dec 11th release

Highly recommended.

It's a rare thing to find an engaging compilation album experience when you approach it with the same mindset as you would a regular studio one; and it's even rarer to find that it's, in fact, probably better than a lot of the artist's studio discography.

Night Of The Day is one of the most unique tracks the Butthole Surfers have ever made: a grainy recording of Leary playing a serene melody on his guitar with a rhythmic twist of the notes to disorient the listener into a trance; then we hear some silly tape samples of an opera-singer caricature (in the distance) and snoring/farting (up close) placed tactfully to create a state of calmer psychedelia than usual with their music.

One Hundred Million People Dead is one of my favourite jam tracks from the group; the two tracks of Space are both better than the original version on Electriclarryland; I Love You Peggy and I Hate My Job are respectable callbacks to the sound of their debut EP; the demo tracks like Perry Intro, the Concubine Solo or Day of the Dying Alive are neat historical recordings to live out some of the band's big moments live or in the studio; the brass ensemble for Eindhoven Chicken Masque humours the work of Ennio Morrocone, performed with the group playing their instruments behind the brass peacefully until around the middle when the piece really picks up; and then Earthquake is an ideal "catchy and good" rock song that could've worked in Locust Abortion Technician or Hairway to Steven, showing a great balance of chaos and melody.

I definitely respect this compilation alongside any of the Butthole Surfers' other albums, and see it as one of the fundamental releases that Butthole Surfers fans should own.