Chris Connelly

never bought any of his solo stuff.
what would be his greatest of cds ?
to get into.

I like most of his solo work but Blonde Exodus is my favorite if I had to pick…just don’t go in expecting any Ministry/Revco/industrial shit…couldn’t be further from it…

Yeah, his solos stuff is WAY different.

Personally, I really dig his first one, “Whiplash Boychild” and “The Episodes” is pretty good- the song “Mirror Lips” on that one is easily one of my favorite songs by anybody, ever. “Shripwreck” has some interesting moments too. I still need to check out his most recent stuff. I’ve met Chris a couple times at Pigface shows back in the day. He was really nice and signed my copy of Whiplash Boychild. All his stuff with Pigface was gold. Damage Manual had some good tunes too, I really prefer the first EP to the other records. Check out The High Confessions if you haven’t yet, that’s another great record he was on.

Whiplash Boychild and Phenobarb Bambalam have always been my favorites. Artificial Madness is much newer and pretty sweet as well. Agreed on High Confessions, definitely.

I think if you’re a fan of late 80s early 90s Ministry & side project music then Shipwreck is a great place to start.

There’s some songs on Phenobarb Bambalam that I like, but as a whole the record doesn’t quite sit right for me. It’s kinda disjointed and all over the place- but from what I understand, Chris was kind of a mess about that time, so it makes sense. I like “Too Good To Be True” of off that one. “Dirtbox Tennessee” is cool too. Mary Byker’s band Hyperhead covered “Ignition x4” on their record Metaphasia. Came out about the same time as Phenobarb Bambalam, they were both in Pigface at the time, Atkins worked on both records. Those two albums kinda go together in my head, and I would rate them about the same (not great albums, but interesting and would have liked to hear what could have been had they continued along those lines for another album or two).

Whiplash Boychild and Artificial Madness are the ones I return to the most often.

I like the earliest stuff best, but he’s all over the map.
There is a best of comp that covers him up to the mid '00s you might want to check out.

Connelly is nothing but consistent, so you could probably pick up any CD of his and find some songs you enjoy. While I don’t own it, i’m glancing at the Initials C.C. tracklist and i’m thinking it doesn’t cover enough of his early-mid 90’s solo material. The WaxTrax! records after leaving the Ministry camp are very good.

A shoutout to Largo, a wonderful album he did with Bill Rieflin from the early 00s. Bought this used as a young man thinking i’d be in for more robotic rhythms and screamed vocals ala several of the albums I knew them from and came away pleasantly surprised by the somber, intimate quality of it mostly being Bill’s piano carrying Chris’ voice.

Yeah, we should talk more about Bill here.I remember reading a LORAH era interview and Bill was playing with some official Chinese government group or something weird like that.

Just picked up Bill Rieflin’s Birth Of A Giant yesterday at Amoeba. Got it super cheap too. Haven’t had a chance to listen to all of it yet but a few seconds of a random track sounded noisy and and heavily processed so I’m looking forward to it.
BTW I don’t care for much of CC’s solo work and Largo is really bad as well. It’s extremely mellow and not really my kind of noise.
Late,
grmpysmrf

I would second that recommendation for Damage Manual, and also recommend Murder Inc; if you like Killing Joke, this is them when they got rid of Jaz Coleman and brought in Chris Connelly. Great album. The Connelly compilation album may be Initials CC, i have it and it’s got a lot of good stuff on it. Not all of his output is my cup of tea personally, i hoped for more Ministry-style stuff, but it seems like he chooses not to be involved in that kind of thing very much. He certainly covers a wide range of styles anyway.

Damage Manual is amazing. Never heard Murder Inc (kinda hard to find?). As for his solo stuff. Only album I can’t get into is Shipwreck. Personal favorites:

Phenobarb Bambalam
Night of Your Life
Blonde Exodus
The Episodes

His last album was pretty cool as well. And I LOVE the Largo album. And Rieflin’s solo album is great. Bummer he never did another one.

Thats great Amoeba is going strong. In my town we have 2 record stores,which when i stopped and thought about it.is pretty good

[i]

Damage Manual is amazing. Never heard Murder Inc (kinda hard to find?). As for his solo stuff. Only album I can’t get into is Shipwreck. Personal favorites:

Phenobarb Bambalam
Night of Your Life
Blonde Exodus
The Episodes

His last album was pretty cool as well. And I LOVE the Largo album. And Rieflin’s solo album is great. Bummer he never did another one.

There are 2 versions of the Murder Inc record…I have both…one is on Invisible and one is on another label that I can’t remember the name of at the moment…the track listing is altered on one of them and some tracks are different versions I believe…not hard to find I don’t think…

Reiflin also did the Land-Road Movies record which is very good stuff also…

I love Shipwreck and Largo…I love most of his stuff…he guests on so many albums too…does anybody remember the Chainsuck record he was on?? That is a really killer album…

Reiflin also has the record with Trey Gunn and Robert Fripp…The Reprecussions of Angelic Behavior…

Reiflin also has the record with Trey Gunn and Robert Fripp…The Reprecussions of Angelic Behavior…

Which comes from the same sessions for Birth of a Giant. Not a bad album, but I’ve always viewed it as leftovers.

[reply]Reiflin also has the record with Trey Gunn and Robert Fripp…The Reprecussions of Angelic Behavior…

Which comes from the same sessions for Birth of a Giant. Not a bad album, but I’ve always viewed it as leftovers.[/reply]
I like birth of a giant. I was trying it out for a couple of hours while I changed out sprinklers. I wish Connelly would put out something along those musical guidelines.
Late,
grmpysmrf