As pool balls clink in the background and piano plays along, deceased Dick Vaughn speaks calmly, softly, clearly.
"This is Dick Vaughn speaking. What I have to tell you tonight is not an easy task, but I'll try to explain….I am dead. Yes, you heard me correctly. At this moment you are hearing the voice of one who has passed into a dimension in which my art has no value….Now, I was killed in a plane crash. How do I know this? Well, actually I've created a library of tapes to play in case of accidental death, each one tailored to a specific cause…"
The most notorious -- and still the most entertaining -- thing that Negativland did this past decade is, of course, the "U2" single. But albumwise, this recorded-on-DAT bootleg of a San Diego show from the band's 1993 tour comes pretty darn close. In the aftermath of the consecutive fiascos visited upon the band, they decided to hit the road and bring forth their message to the masses, whatever it might have been.
And what a message, what a show, what fun. I admit I can speak from experience, since I saw the final show of the tour, a couple of nights later, and therefore can picture the stage antics and sheer nuttiness which informed so much of what was going on. But even on the audio front, Negativland here are kicking against the pricks with a barbed viciousness that belies the smiles, the deepest kind of sarcasm mixed with the knowledge of how to work a crowd. Only the Bomb Squad worked their samples with such perfection of overload, and nobody was spared, not even the band themselves.
The "U2" tracks are here, revamped and exploded even further, conflated into the spy-plane incident, the song, the band, all of it -- Casey Kasem's voice talks about the long-distance dedication and the applause and cheers begin, that most rare of incidents given the original speaker, while Bono is finally the ambient music which Eno could have made him in the beginning, this is bullshit nobody cares these guys are from England and who gives a SHIT! The beat the beat it was the BEAT! And do you know how many time zones there are indeed? And that the loudspeaker spoke up and said Christianity is stupid? Not to mention what happens when Black Flag's "Gimme Gimme Gimme" gets The Treatment, and when punk rock purity of intent becomes its own bitter loaded condemnation.
Not to mention a PIECE OF MEEEEEEEEEEEAT!
And the fact that member David "Weatherman" Wills appeared only on a VCR tape because he didn't want to go on tour. And his charisma carried through just fine. More bands should consider this option if not everyone wants to go out and about, I think.