Skin Yard (album)

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Skin Yard
Skin yard.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedJanuary 1987
Recorded1985–1986
Genre
Label C/Z Records (1987)
Cruz Records (1992)
Producer Skin Yard
Skin Yard chronology
Skin Yard
(1987)
Hallowed Ground
(1988)

Skin Yard is the first studio album by the band Skin Yard. In January 1987, 1400 vinyl copies were released by C/Z Records, mostly on translucent sand-colored vinyl, the rest on standard black vinyl to be played by radio DJs. [2] This recording was the first engineering project by Jack Endino who was also the band's guitarist. Endino went on to record many of the most successful grunge records in Seattle. [3] [4]

Contents

All of the lyrics were written by vocalist Ben McMillan. Bassist Daniel House designed the album layout, and Beth Hendrickson painted artwork for the front cover. Performance photographs on the back cover were taken by Cam Garrett. The album was copyrighted in 1986 by Skin Yard, but not issued until January 1987.

In 1992, the album was re-released on CD by Cruz Records with one song removed and seven songs added, and at the same time it was released again on vinyl with fewer songs than the CD. [2]

1987 vinyl track listing

Side A
    1. "Reptile" – 3:00
    2. "Skins in My Closet" – 6:15
    3. "Epitaph For Yesterday" – 4:22
    4. "The Blind Leading The Blind" – 5:33
Side B
    1. "Scratch" – 3:30
    2. "Burning the Candle" – 6:00
    3. "Dear Deceased" – 3:35
    4. "Stuck in a Plan" – 3:31
    5. "Jabberwocky" – 2:25

1992 re-release

  1. "Skins in My Closet" (music by Endino, lyrics by McMillan)
  2. "Reptile" (music by Cameron, lyrics by McMillan)
  3. "Epitaph for Yesterday" (music by Endino and House, lyrics by McMillan)
  4. "The Blind Leading the Blind" (music by Endino and House, lyrics by McMillan)
  5. "Scratch" (music by Endino, lyrics by McMillan)
  6. "Dear Deceased" (music by Endino, lyrics by McMillan)
  7. "Stuck in a Plan" (music by Endino and House, lyrics by McMillan)
  8. "Jabberwocky" (music by Skin Yard, lyrics by McMillan)
  9. "Gelatin Babies" (music by Endino and House, lyrics by McMillan) (CD and reissue vinyl only)
  10. "Bleed" (music by House, lyrics by McMillan) (CD and reissue vinyl only)
  11. "Out of the Attic" (music by Endino and House, lyrics by McMillan) (CD only)
  12. "Skinstruction" (music by Cameron and Endino, lyrics by McMillan) (CD only)
  13. "Red Tension" (music by Cameron, Endino and House, lyrics by McMillan) (CD only)
  14. "The Birds" (music by Endino and House, lyrics by McMillan) (CD only)
  15. "She Shook Me Cold" (David Bowie cover, recorded live - CD only)

Personnel

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"If I remember right the whole thing took five weeks. No problems except that Cormac was still writing lyrics right up to the next-to-last day of mixing. Dummy Crusher was literally the last thing finished, we cut the vocal and then I mixed it next day. We had about run out of time at that point. [I] liked almost all of it. Thought the intro to EOG should have been half as long, but band disagreed; and in retrospect I would have turned up the vocals on EOG just a teeny bit, though no one ever complained. Didn't like Xenophobia much but that didn't make the album. Thought Clock should have been a single."
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References

  1. "Skin Yard Album Information". AllMusic .
  2. 1 2 "Skin Yard: Detail of 1st Album".
  3. Skin-Yard.com, Skin Yard- The self-titled 1st album
    C/Z CD cover design by Beth Hendrickson & Daniel House.
  4. Jack Endino's official Skin Yard site