Paul Leary: Turn on, Tune in, Dog out

It surprised me a lot when I first heard this album; so I presume it surprised others as well.

Released around the same time as the Surfers' Pioughd, which was by far the most 'inoffensive' of the band's albums to that date, Leary's album seemed even calmer; even more sedate, even discussing political and environmental issues!

And lo-fi it certainly isn't.

There's some pretty slick stuff here. I mean Steve Vai it ain't, but there's some mighty fine chops on display.

It's a Mike Oldfield kind of affair, with Leary playing everything, providing all the vocals, engineering it and producing it, too - he probably even rolled his own spliffs.

And it's certainly more of a stoner album
than a total onslaught on the ears. This is no PCPEP.

Leary cannot sing, but he manages by adopting funny voices, mainly a double-tracked eerie falsetto, which sounds like it shouldn't work, but it does!

There's some wonderful arrangements here, 'Indians Storm the Government' and 'Too Many People' being the strangest, with the latter sounding like a psychedelic, Vegas, Tiller Girl, Busby Berkeley style mash-up. Great stuff!

As for the environmental aspect, I remember my young son on hearing the track 'How Much Longer', which features the couplet: 'How much longer/Till the Earth gets blown up?', becoming quite concerned, and quizzing me as to when this would happen. I'm sure environmental awareness became part of his life from that moment. Not something one would expect from listening to an album by the Butthole Surfers' guitar player.

Paul Leary - The History of Dogs

Tracks:

The Birds are Dying

Apollo One

Dalhart Down the road

How Much Longer

He's Working Overtime

Indians Storm the Government

Is it Mikey

Too Many People

The City

Fine Home

Cassette rip.

Thanks to GD for artwork.

The next one's for you.

Get it here