Release Information
12″EP Jul1987
Self Immolation / Some Bizarre #WOMB FAN 13 Made in the UK
12″EP 1987
Self Immolation /Some Bizarre / Relativity #88561-8186-1 Made in the US
CS 1987
Self Immolation / Some Bizarre / Relativity #88561-8186-4 Made in the US
Track Listing
Face A:
01. Bedrock
Face B:
02. Diabolus In Musica
03. Shut
04. Rattlesnake Insurance
05. Bedrock Strip
Linear Notes
FACE A 45 RPM FACE B 33 RPM
ALL SONGS WRITTEN, PRODUCED AND PERFORMED BY THE FOETUS ALL-NUDE REVUE.
A SELF IMMOLATION / SOME BIZARRE ENTERPRISE. PUBLISHED BY DIMEHART
GIVE ME A HOME WHERE THE DINOSAURS ROAM
RECORDED AT MILO AND PARADISE, LONDON
ENGINEERED BY CHARLES GRAY AND WARNE LIVESEY
(Diabolus In Musica:)
“mi contra fa
Diabolus est in musica”
Diabolus in Musica was a medieval term for the tritone (augmented fourth or diminished fifth). It divides the octave into two equal parts (in this case C and F#).
In the medieval system of church modes the tritone was the most conspicuous as the interval between the final and the fourth degree of the modes on F, the Lydian and Hypolydian.
The first mention of the word “tritonus” seems to be in the 9th or 10th century organum treatise “Musica Enchiriadis”, though it was not explicitly prohibited until the development of Guido of Arezzo’s hexachordal system. From then until the end of the Renaissance the tritone, nicknamed Diabolus in Musica, was regarded as a dangerous interval associated with evil and was banned by the chirch as being thought to summon Satan.
Those found using the chord were routinely subjected to slow torturous death by genital mutilation and the administering of such implements as the skull crusher, the breast breaker and the wheel. Burnings at the stake were also favoured.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING CONDITIONS: BLACKNESS; OXYGEN AT LISTENERS DISCRETION; EXTREME STEREO OR HEADPHONES; LARGE VOLUME MANDATORY.
(Bedrock Strip:)
(for Mick Harvey)
SLEEVE NOTES BY J.G. THIRLWELL
SLEEVE DESIGN BY J.G. THIRLWELL
EXECUTION: MX/Ai
ALL SONGS WRITTEN BY J.G. THIRLWELL
MIXED AT LIVINGSTON, LONDON
Release Notes
“Bedrock”, “Shut” and “Rattlesnake Insurance” also appear in their original forms on the Sink release, as does “Diabolus In Musica” in an edited form. “Shut” also appears in the same form on the Various Artists Ish release.
“Diabolus In Musica” also appears in raw form in the Richard Kern film “The Manhattan Love Suicides”.
Included a printed paper inner sleeve, with the notes above, as well as lyrics.
Reviews
One side of this record plays at 45, the other at 33. Side one features the title cut, an odd combination of bluesy, heavy metal mentality and a slight jazzy influence. A lot of the jazz flavor is provided by the use of an upright bass. Foetus’ vocals are somewhere between a sleazy Jim Dandy and a gravelish Tom Waits, and oh does it sound slimy. Lines like “a woman’s place is on my face” are sure to endear Foetus to feminists everywhere. If side one is more “body” oriented, than side two is more directed to the brain, and is much more abstract and experimental. Here we have an instrumental suite entitled “Diabolus in Musica” which is based on the tritone (augmented fourth or diminished fifth). The tritone was banned in the medieval church because it was believed to summon Satan; those who were found to be using it were often tortured to death. This piece is at times almost industrial in its harshness, and at other moments conveys the kind of creeping, slow menace I associate with a band like Univers Zero. While I was partial to the second side, the other material is certainly not run-of-the-mill. (Relativity, 149-03 Guy R. Brewer Blvd., Jamaica, NY 11434)
Source: Option of January/February 1988, Rev. Bryan Sale.
…finally out after enormous delays, the Foetus All-Nude Revue is designed to strip yr clothes off yr bod and yr skin off yr bones. A swinging porn-epic that’s as brassily nap as Lydia’s long-ago work-out with Billy Ver Planck, this rec manifests an oink as sinister as anything Foetus’s ever done before. Like a roomful of shifty-eyed mofos eyeing yr tot in a pediatrician’s waiting room. Some nerds seem to prefer the older more-heavily-syntho-sound-Foetus, but I’ll take All-Nude any day. Its approximation of a big, big outfit makes me walk like a drunk cartoon hippo. And that’s okay.
Source: Forced Exposure of winter 1988, Byron.
