Here's what the critics have to say about Space Brains from Outer Space:
"Super originality points for this! It's like a book on tape but on CD. Political punk tunes that tell the story of Steve Nibbler and the Big-Handed Vikings from Outer Space. There's even a narrator and a paper version included so you can read along. I wish they used stuff like this in kiddiegarten! Maybe drawn out in spots but the wackiness makes up for it. Everyone's gotta have something like this in their collection."
"This is weird stuff. It is funky storytelling with a musical background. You probably haven't heard anything like this before. This is very creative stuff."
-Franco Ortega, Grub Records
"These guys took way too much acid during high school or they're Douglas Adams fanatics. Either way, the G.
Gordon Liddys have come up with a CD that's... well, it's weird. Freaky weird. Not the music, that's actually pretty
interesting and catchy. But this isn't a regular 15 song CD. It's a musical play, with narrated bits, which tells
the story of small handed Steve who meets up with a batch of big handed Viking aliens and eventually becomes the
Emporer of Earth. See what I mean about the bad acid? Good job we have a twisted sense of humor and took a lot
of bad acid too cause we actually found this CD pretty hilarious. With song titles like "Those Crazy Space
Vikings with the Big-Ass Hands and Really Wide Ties" and "Ritualistic Gradeschool Haircut Taunt and Rebuttal"
(catchy instrumental), you can't help but be amused. And the songs are good! Industrial flavoured heviness, lots
of effects, driving heavy guitars and a host of lyrical weirdness make the music sounds mighty fine. The G. Gordon
Liddys should put out a CD of the songs on their own. I don't know how many people will get into this type of weirdass
musical shit, but what the hell, we had fun listening to it and the music is heavy and good.
-Sal Colosimo, Raw-Indie-Rock
CD Verdict 9 out 10 This one is a real treasure and a must !!!.. from now on the G.Gordon Liddys is one of my favourite bands !!! It`s so much to write about this album but I won`t write anything except that this album is GREAT.. so go ahead and order your copy today..I swear you won`t regret!!! GFZ
Ok, it doesn't get any more home-made than this; photocopied booklet and a recordable CD-R disc (basically, you make your own short-run CDs). There's probably not too many of these. This is one major weird rock opera thing with a narrator, offensive lyrics, aliens, big words, mythological references, whatever. The sad thing is that it's kinda not bad if you leave it on while you're typing (for example). Mike has taken my oblique dismissal of his last group, Shadwell's Jacket (a metal opera in hindsight) and come back with something every college station should be playing. Ed Wood meets Zappa; this could be huge in Germany (Germans also dig 70c Canuck AOR rock). Hey, A for effort!
- Ralph
Mike Bryant (formerly of Shadwell's Jacket) swears this is not his new band. It's a project by a guy named Boy
George Michael Jackson Browne (His real name) and some top rate talent like Miss Slovenski's grade three class
choir from St. Holstien's private school for wayward girls.
This is the story of Steve Nibbler and the crazy space vikings with the big-ass hands and really wide ties. With your humble NArrator Dr. Colossal Wiz to guide you through if you're too lazy to read the liner notes.
If you're into concept albums that will make you laugh hysterically, the story alone is very funny but the song writing and ideas used here are amazing, anyone familiar with Shadwell's Jacket can expect an even weirder twist from this CD. An excellent mix of electronics and more conventional sound. Just what Mike is such a pro with or I mean that other guy, before the CD ends with a behind the scenes segment we get 13 minutes of guitar wanking, showing off some brilliant fretwork by this evil galactor. All freaks are encouraged to contact this guy 'cause he really thinks nobody cares!!
-Toad, Static 'Zine
"The scapegoating road is well traveled by the Buchanans and the Robert Novaks, the Rush Limbaughs and the
G. Gordon Liddys. But those who have taken the
other fork in a populist journey -- progressives -- are very sparsely represented."
Flo reviews The G Gordon Liddys' "Space Brains From Outer Space" and warns us against Creeping Celine Dionism
Time... dear friends.. Time is such a thief, is it not? It robs us of many things; our hair our teeth, our wits, our slender, sylph-like waistlines and our free-spirited optimism.
Worse, it robs us of our hip-ness.
Time was when you could laugh in the face of the unhip, secure in the knowledge that you were fully equipped with a veritable cornucopia of cutting edge, fab-and-groovy funky sounds. Haughtily you would sneer at those sad creatures whose record collections harboured the likes of Leonard Cohen and Mick Hucknall.
But as surely as overnight you lose the ability to dance on your 30th birthday, one day you wake up
and find that time has rendered your musical taste distinctly un-credible. Suddenly, you find yourself
embarrassed beyond endurance by the presence of Queen's "A Night At the Opera" in your collection.
Overnight, it seems, you can no longer engender awe in your fellow music-lovers by the sheer number
of Black Sabbath recordings you own. You wake up in a cold sweat at the thought of anyone
discovering that you actually still listen to ELP!
Worse still - people start discussing bands you've never heard of, and looking at you pityingly when you
attempt to display your up-to-the-minute knowledge of the current music scene by discussing Boy
George's latest haircut. You bore people witless by telling them that Nirvana's "Nevermind" is just a
collection of recycled Sabbaff riffs.
The final humiliation comes when you are invited by your music mailing list to enthuse about your
favourite new releases of 1998, and you are forced to admit that the only CD you bought last year was
a copy of "Celine Dion's Greatest Hits" *
At this point you know you are in big trouble.
You need.... ... The G Gordon Liddys' "Space Brains from Outer Space"
Yes - this is the vital antidote to this Creeping Celine Dionism of the Soul. Even as it slides into your
CD drawer, you will feel a surge of credibility oozing back into your wasted body. *Now* you have
something truly exotic to discuss with the hip-less wonders who have failed to discover this exciting
event. Now the sneer can return to your face as you bandy about song titles such as "Ritualistic
Gradeschool Haircut Taunt and Rebuttal"
So what's the sucker actually like then?
Damned if I know. Words fail me. (which, as anyone familiar with the extensive nature of Mudshark
Towers will realise, is a highly uncommon occurance!) To say this recording is Weird like saying that
Saddam Hussein isn't likely to win the "Humanitarian of the Year" award, and that Bill Gates is not
exactly short of a bob or two. This is undeniably the product of a seriously deranged mind. This is
genuine psychosis, trust me - I know! It is weird in a sort of weird, Zappa-eque fashion, but unlike dear
old Frank, who could do weird till the cows come home but tended to misplace his sense of humour all
too often, The Gordons save us from the tedium of self-conscious weirdery with a dollop of
self-deprecating wit and downright stupidity. Hurrah!
It is - and I warn you now,this is not pretty - a concept album! The like of which I thought I would
never live to see again! You can read a synposis of the plot
-Flo Mudshark Mudshark Towers
The G. Gordon Liddys-Bryan Baker Gajoob Online
-Ryan Alexander Demorama
This is one of those things where you wonder, how can a band seriously release something. I'll give A LOT of credit for the originality. Still, I don't think anyone could seriously listen to this every day. It would be a fun live show and all, but I need something to listen to. Weird as crap punk with a little ska and a bunch of effects. This follows a story line so it's a punk opera. Thanks.
You can call this probally, if you want, orginal, nice or even funny, but I don't exactly enjoy it. Even just the opposite. I never handeld it
to listen this rock opera (yes !) in one piece. After a few minutes, i have some strange felings in my stommack, and the dirty taste of gall
in my trote. Maybe this is healty for bollemie patients, in this way tey don't have the use their fingers any more.
I hav to admit, there are some parts that you can call orginal with a little bit of emagination. I can rather be more positive. At some parts
they sound even like Frank Zappa on a bad day. It sounds to my meaning a little bit to far searched.
I'm sorry, I has to be more objective but I can't. Here's some info of there bio; The hard-rocking G. Gordon Liddys were favourites of
the '70s underground scene, touring incessantly with such bands as Freud's Mother, The Peter Mansbridge Experience, and JenkfiSh.
In 1980, the Liddy's swore they'd never work together again. Well, they lied. They have returned with their most ambitious work to date,
a concept album entitled 'Space Brains From Outer Space' ; a story about a young man whose unconventional sexual practices lead him
to greatness. All the orginal Liddys are here, with exeption of Stig 'cause he's dead. Stig has been replaced with former Anal Beard
Barbers vocalist Boy George Michael Jackson Browne.
Probably for fans of the space-kitch-rock-opera genre, but not for me.
From the Blue Yak
It's hard to categorize the G. Gordon Liddys. Industrial...maybe. Metal...not really. Rock...perhaps, but too heavy. Punk...an influence for sure, but not quite. If I had to place them in a
genre, I guess it would be techno-punk. They use a lot of techno-type electronics and slap wacky rhythm and vocals into the middle of it all. Personally, I wasn't all too impressed with the
music or the rampant foul language...sorry folks, I just ain't into that. But, on the other hand, the concept was incredibly original. Considering that they stopped playing in 1980 and only
recently started back into their music, they have a surprisingly modern sound. They're not a band whose CD I would ever want to buy, but the Liddys are good in their own way; if
nothing else, original.
Band-O-Rama Rating: 6
IF I ever meet Mike Bryant, the man behind The G. Gordon Liddys and two other bands, Shadwells Jacket and Nanochrist, my first question is going to be, "dude, when do have time to eat and sleep?" Space Brains From Outer Space is a concept album (stop rolling your eyes) or a rock opera; imagine "Tommy" on a heavier dose of acid than initially administered. A narrator sets the stage, introducing each musical segment in this tale of a guy named Steve and his encounter with aliens. There's a program to guide you through the story, pointing out key musical sequences like "Guitar Wank-Off #4" and "Ritualistic Grade School Haircut Taunt and Rebuttal". Vocals are by Boy George Michael Jackson Browne. This epic is a bit weird, a bit crude, and very clever.
-Face of the Assassin
See? It rocks! So buy one, why doncha?
You know you want to.
And besides, we're poor.