I bought this record in the same transaction as Fugazi's classic Repeater; I can't imagine many times in either band's history that Fugazi records and PWEI records were bought at the same time. There used to be a guy who'd sell records in the main square at university, a tradition I imagine no longer exists. I bought a handful of things from him over the years I was there - it was often a struggle to find anything good, but I usually found at least one thing kinda worth buying.
As singles go, this double a-side is pretty strong. Karmadrome was one of the first PWEI songs I was really into. It made it onto their Live At Weird's Bar and Grill album, which was a solid introduction to the classic years. The build-up the chorus is wonderful and I love the backing vocals, as well as the explosive outro. Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me, Kill Me was also a huge song, appearing near the start of that same live album. More than any of the other songs pre-Dos Dedos Mis Amigos, that song hinted at the darker heavier direction their final album would go in. However, it retained a lot of what made them so likeable in the middle-era, which makes it quite a highlight in the back catalogue. PWEI-zation is another classic.
All three of those songs made it onto the Best Of albums I have, so the only new song was the subtly-named remix Eat Me, Drink Me, Dub Me, Kill Me (which suffers for the lack of guitars in the chorus - Clint's vocals sound a bit out of place without them rising up with him). One remix and the fact it was a picture disc that looked quite nice was enough to get me to spend £5 on it.
Needless to say, over the years, Repeater has had considerably more airtime, but that shouldn't come as a surprise; it's up there amongst the greatest albums of all time. But, if you wanted some PWEI highlights (and a remix) in a very concise form, you can't go wrong with this little collection.
Format: 12" picture disc, insert
Tracks: 4
Cost: £5 second hand
Bought: Lancaster University Square
When: 12/02/04
Colour: Picture disc
Etching: none
mp3s: no
