SPIKE IN VAIN - Jesus Was Born In A Mobile Home (Expanded Edition) 2LP (colour vinyl)

Limited edition colour vinyl. Black wax also available.

This release is loaded with surprises for even die-hard fans. Among other highlights, there’s a nine minute version of “Opus.” While the recording on Disease Is Relative is essentially three short songs smushed together, this later live version doubles that, with all new material seamlessly tacked onto the original.

“Winter’s Black Hand” is a shocking outtake from the second album with the same insane, harrowing quality as “Children In The Subway.” There’s a 1982 rehearsal recording of “Tenement Housing,” the closest the band ever came to a straight up punk song. Or the rambling, shambling, and devastating “Drunk And Ugly Soul Food (As I Understand It)” from an early 1985 radio session.

Along with other live recordings of songs that never saw the inside of a studio and a few more outtakes, Jesus also gathers stray songs from compilation albums with much improved sound.

The majority of the tracks here were mastered from the original reels, while others had to be rescued from cassettes. Veteran engineer John Golden has done a knockout job dealing with the wide variety of source materials, lending it cohesion without sacrificing the skull-splitting rawness of some tracks.

First time on vinyl for all but three tracks. Includes thirteen previously unreleased recordings.