Jay Reatard: Blood Visions (Vinyl LP)

Debut solo release from the driving force behind the Reatards, Lost Sounds, The Final Solutions and The Angry Angles. Features a cover of the Adverts' "We Who Wait." A combination of the aggressive approach of The Reatards with a melodic pop sensibility and a production recalling classic UK punk records.

Jay Reatard’s reputation was to smash disco balls and get in on-stage fights - the kind of guy who tried to make people laugh by shooting bottle rockets out his ass. As wild and ridiculous as he was, he took his music seriously.

The album is a portrait of a moony-eyed murderer. As a boy, he starts attacking his own family. When he falls in love, he lurks in the shadows and watches her from afar. "I won't stop until you're dead,/ because of voices in my head," he sings on "Fading All Away." This is the stuff of horror movies—love that leads to obsession, graduates to stalking, and culminates in murder. It's a narrative framed perfectly by his performance.

1. Blood Visions
2. Greed, Money, Useless Children
3. It's so Easy
4. My Shadow
5. My Family
6. Death is Forming
7. Oh It's Such a Shame
8. Not a Substitute
9. Nightmares
10. I See You Standing There
11. We Who Wait
12. Fading All Away
13. Turning Blue
14. Puppet Man
15. Waiting for Something