After the band reformed in the late '90s,
Better Youth Organization began releasing both new and reissued albums from
Leatherface to popular and critical acclaim. The first reissue was their first album,
Cherry Knowle, which demonstrated a band trying to form a musical force by melding elements from
Motorhead and
Huesker Due, usually to rather bland
punk metallic success. The second reissue from
BYO is the final album by
Leatherface in the band's first incarnation; recorded in December 1993 within a month or two of their initial breakup, the album is appropriately called
The Last. The original release had only eight tracks, ending up with
"Ba Ba Ba Ba Boo," Frankie Stubbs' goofy send-up of early
Tom Waits. The original album provided some of the best substance for a comparision to
Huesker Due; note the seventh track,
"Winsome, Losesome," sung by drummer
Andrew Laing with a clearer and slightly higher-register voice than the usual gruff and hoarse-voiced lead man
Stubbs. Every other track of the original eight album songs are damned good, from
"Little White God" on.
"Daylight Comes" is the highlight, performed with onrushing speed and capped off by
Laing's frenzied use of the double bass pedal. On the other side of the reissue are eight additional songs recorded without the other guitarist,
Dickie Hammond, and swapping
Chris Mackintosh for
Laing behind the drums. Recorded in June 1994 in France, these additional tracks add little to the legacy of
Leatherface, providing little else than uninspired B-side material and coming close to making a caricature of the band's sound, almost harking back to their mediocre
punk metal first album. After
The Last, the members of
Leatherface went their separate ways, before bassist
Andy Crighton's suicide in 1998 brought the surviving group back together to record both a split LP with
Hot Water Music and the full-length
Horsebox, which would prove to be some of the greatest music they'd ever made. ~ Jeremy Salmon
