personally i vote Too Dark Park, sonically there's nary a note out of place, one of my favorite albums ever
― u r no man, take the balls (San Te), Monday, 27 September 2010 18:43 (thirteen years ago) link
i feel the same way about 'last rights' -- my vote
― teflon dawn (uptown churl), Monday, 27 September 2010 18:47 (thirteen years ago) link
Last Rights is real close. has the best opener IMO.
― u r no man, take the balls (San Te), Monday, 27 September 2010 18:56 (thirteen years ago) link
25 years later I still think the correct answer is Bites
― Monkeys? Um, no. (HI DERE), Monday, 27 September 2010 18:59 (thirteen years ago) link
it was a hard choice. bites might have more good songs. it's funny how such a big deal (uh ... relatively speaking) is made of dude from severed heads' (forgot his name) supposed influence on them post bites; but really, the textures and timbres on bites are pretty accomplished and terrifying and don't sound underdeveloped at all.
the puppy is really beyond due for a critical reappraisal/newfound acceptance with electronic oriented music listeners these days.
― teflon dawn (uptown churl), Monday, 27 September 2010 19:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Tom Ellard? I in no way undervalue or discount his contributions to ANYTHING because he's a fucking genius (and Severed Heads is the only other band in the same vein that I think is in the same league as Skinny Puppy; in fact, I like them more).
― Monkeys? Um, no. (HI DERE), Monday, 27 September 2010 19:31 (thirteen years ago) link
Umm... this is hard. Last Rites and Too Dark Park both have things which could take it for them, but VIVIsectVI has the one-two of VX Gas Attack and Harsh Stone White.
This is going to take some thought.
― It would have been better with burger sauce (aldo), Monday, 27 September 2010 19:46 (thirteen years ago) link
i think tom ellard made a joke somewhere that he taught them how to program their sampler properly or something. afaik he only worked with them on the "chainsaw" ep though, which is completely sick
ignoring compilations (don't really get why comps are being included in an album poll but whatever), it's between remission and bites for me. bites contains some amazing music but like most of their albums is a bit over long. still it's worth it for the last two songs alone. remission is just straight back and forth bangers from start to finish but is a bit more conservative production wise compared to their later stuff. the 12" singles comp is untouchable. need to have a revision session before i vote
i think it's the vocals and to a lesser extent posturing and stage antics that has held back any critical reappraisal or whatever. i honestly couldn't imagine your average triangle wave fan or whoever being able to sit through mind: the perpetual intercourse and enjoy it song for song. and afaik they never had a stray crossover with balearic or cosmic djs which rules them out for the beardo re edit set. but yeah some of the drum programming on bites is just incredible. and didn't they have that song which sampled a skipping cd like 5 years before oval came along?
― lao gan ma (r1o natsume), Monday, 27 September 2010 20:00 (thirteen years ago) link
stray crossover HIT that should say
― lao gan ma (r1o natsume), Monday, 27 September 2010 20:01 (thirteen years ago) link
VIVIsectVI. Totally messed up my 9th-grade mind. Re-listened recently and it still packs a wallop.
― zero of the signified, Monday, 27 September 2010 20:06 (thirteen years ago) link
hmmmmm
gut says rabies, but vivisect is tempting as well
― the great aussie ballkicking vids (jjjusten), Monday, 27 September 2010 20:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Rabies is underappreciated
― u r no man, take the balls (San Te), Monday, 27 September 2010 20:25 (thirteen years ago) link
still not totally convinced by VIVIsectVI
― Monkeys? Um, no. (HI DERE), Monday, 27 September 2010 20:26 (thirteen years ago) link
looking at discogs it seems tom ellard worked with them as early as "assimilate" which might explain why he gets credited for influencing their sound so drastically
i like the quieter more abstract songs on the bites cd reissue best. "falling", "church", "love" etc. kinda like a much creepier severed heads circa city slab horror. wish they had more stuff like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFIlhgH4weE
― lao gan ma (r1o natsume), Monday, 27 September 2010 20:28 (thirteen years ago) link
"Church" and "Love" have always been very high on my list of Skinny Puppy songs, right up there with "The Choke", "Basement", "Dead Lines" and "Icebreaker".
― Monkeys? Um, no. (HI DERE), Monday, 27 September 2010 20:29 (thirteen years ago) link
Last rights b/c it raped my speakers like nothing i had ever heard to that point
― drop s7ocki (bnw), Monday, 27 September 2010 20:30 (thirteen years ago) link
Rabies isn't underappreciated at all; if you want an underappreciated SP album, look at The Greater Right of the Wrong
― Monkeys? Um, no. (HI DERE), Monday, 27 September 2010 20:31 (thirteen years ago) link
Also lolteenager - i wrote and got a reply from alternative press after goettel died b/c rollingstone gave him more ink then them.
― drop s7ocki (bnw), Monday, 27 September 2010 20:35 (thirteen years ago) link
major xpost -- hi dere, i was saying that despite ellard's godlike genius, skinny puppy w/o him still are massive and incredible
― teflon dawn (uptown churl), Monday, 27 September 2010 20:44 (thirteen years ago) link
ah, read that the wrong way around
sorry!
― Monkeys? Um, no. (HI DERE), Monday, 27 September 2010 20:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Always meant to get into this band, this poll should help nudge me a bit. I liked Last Rights when I heard it in high school but that's about the extent of my knowledge, so I'm not gonna ruin the poll by voting for the only one I've heard.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Monday, 27 September 2010 21:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Ohhhh my gosh I had no idea these guys had so many albums.
― Mormons come out of the sky and they stand there (Abbbottt), Monday, 27 September 2010 21:21 (thirteen years ago) link
xp: Last Rights is good, though!
really, the only albums of theirs I really have issues with are VIVIsectVI and The Process
― Monkeys? Um, no. (HI DERE), Monday, 27 September 2010 21:21 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah it's weird that VIVIsectVI (hate that title too) gets big upped so much; bites is much more direct and forceful and last rights has the most intricate production; VIVIsectVI kinda splits the difference unsatisfactorily. although "harsh stone white" is fucking awesome. also yes the track "download" on last rights samples a skipping cd but doesn't sound anything like oval, at all
― teflon dawn (uptown churl), Tuesday, 28 September 2010 02:54 (thirteen years ago) link
def. my favorite band that all my friends hate
Vivisect VI for VX Gas Attack and Who's Laughing Now? alone, though most of their discs include favorites of mine...though, in my book, no full SK disc is as satisfyingly crunchy as this one. VIVIVI all the way, man.
Testure was a bit weak, but in retrospect it makes for a good breather from the heady murk of the rest, eh?
― (I Just) Died In Your Asshat Tonight, Wednesday, 29 September 2010 02:39 (thirteen years ago) link
VIVIsectVI without a second thought. Bites is a close second.
― Sean Carruthers, Wednesday, 29 September 2010 03:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Bites never clicked with me; dunno why. Really liked Remission a lot (esp. the expanded/reissued one), but Bites...?
CF+M was my first Puppy album, and I liked it/was scared by it.
This is making me want to revisit the catalogue and REASSESS.
― zero of the signified, Wednesday, 29 September 2010 04:16 (thirteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Sunday, 3 October 2010 23:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Toughie, but I'm going with VIVIsectVI.
― Alex in NYC, Sunday, 3 October 2010 23:52 (thirteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Monday, 4 October 2010 23:01 (thirteen years ago) link
i have thought about this very hard and i am a last rights person
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Sunday, 3 January 2021 05:03 (three years ago) link
Guess I was the only Mind... vote.
― Spencer Chow, Monday, 4 January 2021 21:26 (three years ago) link
I thought I might have voted Mind... but must have been VIVIsectVI.
― stirmonster, Monday, 4 January 2021 22:37 (three years ago) link
mind is somehow also the best album
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 5 January 2021 00:16 (three years ago) link
yah all my favorites except too dark park mentioned in this revive
― brimstead, Tuesday, 5 January 2021 00:31 (three years ago) link
Too Dark is my fav.
"Tormentor" would play everywhere i walked if I could program the music to come out of my pores
― Looking for Cape Penis house (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 5 January 2021 01:37 (three years ago) link
ch ch church in hell
― brimstead, Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:44 (three years ago) link
i revisited Cleanse Fold and Manipulate as a result of this poll revive. "First Aid", "Deep Down Trauma Hands" and "Addiction" are still up there in my SP greatest hits selection.
― stirmonster, Thursday, 14 January 2021 02:46 (three years ago) link
been too long since I played some Skuppy. think tonight will be the night I go back to some of the 80s stuff I hadn't perused as much.
think "Tormentor" will always be my favorite tune though\.
― Slowzy LOLtidore (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 21 June 2022 17:19 (two years ago) link
i listened to "Rabies" again a couple of times recently. i feel it is unfairly maligned, as is Al's production.
― stirmonster, Tuesday, 21 June 2022 18:11 (two years ago) link
Too Dark Park for me.
Also have to plug for Hilt - offshoot band that I like more than the Puppy in many ways. Primary LPs are Call the Ambulance Before I Hurt Myself and Journey to the Center of the Bowl. Awful titles and artwork, utterly transcendent music.
― Psychocandy Apple Grey (Pyschocandles), Tuesday, 21 June 2022 19:50 (two years ago) link
playing Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse atm
― Slowzy LOLtidore (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 21 June 2022 19:54 (two years ago) link
now listening to the latest one, Weapon. not sure if I will get used to this vocal style, but this is the first thing post Last Rights I've heard so maybe he sounded like this on all of the 21st century albums
― Slowzy LOLtidore (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 22 June 2022 02:45 (two years ago) link
One of those bands I've been split over and really need to be in the mood for. I played the hell out of Last Rights but have a hard time returning to it. Too Dark Park sounds very good this morning, it has this eerie cinematographic sense of apocalyptic, radioactive calm. I like the shameless pop rearing its ugly head behind the layers too.
― Nabozo, Wednesday, 22 June 2022 06:14 (two years ago) link
"Harsh Stone White" might be my third or fourth favorite track of theirs, all-time.
is that a drill on the track?
― Doop Snogg (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 22 June 2022 19:57 (two years ago) link
it's up there. we need a full skinny puppy tracks poll, which i reckon would be heavily split between late period and mid period SP.
― stirmonster, Wednesday, 22 June 2022 23:11 (two years ago) link
to you i say, what about early puppy!!!
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 22 June 2022 23:27 (two years ago) link
i listened to remission and bites today
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 22 June 2022 23:28 (two years ago) link
i love early puppy but judging by ilm puppy chat it seems that period is perhaps not overly appreciated / known here.
― stirmonster, Wednesday, 22 June 2022 23:36 (two years ago) link
smothered hope, assimilate, dead lines, the centre bullet and far too frail would all be contenders in my top 10.
― stirmonster, Wednesday, 22 June 2022 23:39 (two years ago) link
I didn't like Bites at first (re: 15 years ago) cos I was used to more 90s SP as that's what I started with but Bites sounded very nice yesterday.
― Doop Snogg (Neanderthal), Thursday, 23 June 2022 00:17 (two years ago) link
I LOVE Bytes. Rot and assimilate!!!
― brimstead, Thursday, 23 June 2022 00:41 (two years ago) link
shit is just evil new order. perfect music
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 23 June 2022 00:55 (two years ago) link
Remission sounds fantastic, haven't listened to it in like 30 years probably.
― Jaime Pressly and America (f. hazel), Thursday, 23 June 2022 01:02 (two years ago) link
listening to Last Rights for teh first time in about 15 years, lord this sucker is dense. "Inquisition" is a demonic nightmare.
the samples are so well layered in. lot of melodic bits too.
― Doop Snogg (Neanderthal), Thursday, 23 June 2022 03:29 (two years ago) link
kind of cinematic too
― Doop Snogg (Neanderthal), Thursday, 23 June 2022 03:37 (two years ago) link
"Riverz End" is like an industrial/EBM "O Fortuna"
― Doop Snogg (Neanderthal), Thursday, 23 June 2022 03:40 (two years ago) link
that was the first SP album I got.. otm re it’s cinematic qualities, for some reason I got aquatic scifi The Abyss-esque vibes from it.
― brimstead, Thursday, 23 June 2022 04:16 (two years ago) link