Crazy Backwards Alphabet

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ReleasedJanuary 1987
RecordedDecember 1986
Genre
Length46:23 (LP version),
1:12:46 (CD version)
Crazy Backwards Alphabet
Studio album by
Henry Kaiser and Crazy Backwards Alphabet
ReleasedJanuary 1987
RecordedDecember 1986
Genre
Length46:23 (LP version),
1:12:46 (CD version)
LabelSST (110)
ProducerHenry Kaiser
Henry Kaiser chronology
Tomorrow Knows Where You Live
(1986)		 Crazy Backwards Alphabet
(1987)		 With Enemies Like These, Who Needs Friends?
(1987)
Matt Groening chronology
Crazy Backwards Alphabet
(1987)		 The Simpsons Sing the Blues
(1990)
SST Records chronology
Universal Congress Of (SST 109)
(1987)		 Crazy Backwards Alphabet (SST 110)
(1987)		 Mystery Spot (SST 111)
(1987)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllmusicStarStarStarHalf star [1]

Crazy Backwards Alphabet is an album conceived by cartoonist Matt Groening and recorded by Henry Kaiser. The core group features Kaiser on guitar along with drummer John "Drumbo" French (ex Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band), bassist Andy West (of Dixie Dregs), and Swedish avant-rock drummer Michael Maksymenko.

American rock critic Robert Christgau said of the album: "Concept is Beefheart as Dixie Dregs, kind of, with intermittent lyrics, not always in English."[2] It was released in 1987.

Further recordings were made for a follow-up album; however, it was not released until 2007 as Crazy Backwards Alphabet II.[3]

LP version

Side one

  1. "The Blood and the Ink" (Bob Adams & John French) – 5:02
  2. "Det Enda Raka?" (Michael Maksymenko) – 1:58
  3. "Get To You" (John French) – 4:30
  4. "The Welfare Elite" (John French & Henry Kaiser) – 3:52
  5. "Ghosts" (Albert Ayler) – 4:18
  6. "Lobster on the Rocks #2" (John French, Henry Kaiser, Michael Maksymenko, Andy West & Stuart Wold) – 3:15

Side two

  1. "Sarayushka (La Grange)" (Original Composition: Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill & Frank Beard•Russian Translation: Michael Maksymenko) – 2:26
  2. "Dropped D" (Bob Adams, Henry Kaiser, Michael Maksymenko & Andy West) – 7:53
  3. "The Book of Joel" (Bob Adams, Everett Shock) – 2:04
  4. "Bottoms Up!" (Michael Maksymenko) – 3:40
  5. "We Are In Control?" (John French) – 5:25
  6. "Maran II" (Michael Maksymenko) – 0:24

CD version

  1. "The Blood and the Ink" (Bob Adams & John French) – 5:02
  2. "Det Enda Raka?" (Michael Maksymenko) – 1:58
  3. "Get To You" (John French) – 4:30
  4. "The Welfare Elite" (John French & Henry Kaiser) – 3:52
  5. "Ghosts" (Albert Ayler) – 4:18
  6. "Lobster on the Rocks" (John French, Henry Kaiser, Michael Maksymenko, Andy West & Stuart Wold) – 3:15
  7. "Sarayushka (La Grange)" (Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill & Frank Beard•Russian Translation: Michael Maksymenko) – 2:26
  8. "Dropped D" (Bob Adams, Henry Kaiser, Michael Maksymenko & Andy West) – 7:53
  9. "The Book of Joel" (Bob Adams, Everett Shock) – 2:04
  10. "Bottoms Up!" (Michael Maksymenko) – 3:40
  11. "We Are In Control?" (John French) – 5:25
  12. "Maran II" (Michael Maksymenko) – 0:24
  13. "No Doubt About It, I Gotta Get a New Hat" (Henry Kaiser) – 4:32*
  14. "Secret of the Telegian" (Greg Goodman, Henry Kaiser & Michael Maksymenko) – 6:17*
  15. ""Lite" Blue Mousse" (Bob Adams, Henry Kaiser, Michael Maksymenko & Ralf Nygard) – 7:11*
  16. "The Same Thing" (Willie Dixon) – 5:59*
  17. "Herr Magazine" (Bob Adams, Everett Shock, Henry Kaiser & Michael Maksymenko) – 3:04*

*bonus tracks on CD only

Personnel

Production crew

References

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