Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac
| type = Album
| artist = Butthole Surfers
| cover = Butthole Surfers Psychic Front.jpg
| alt =
| released = December 1984 (US)
July 1985 (UK)
| recorded = 1984
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = {{flatlist|
| length = 35:04
| label = Touch and Go (US)
Fundamental (UK)
Latino Buggerveil (reissue)
| producer = Butthole Surfers
| prev_title = Live PCPPEP
| prev_year = 1984
| next_title = Cream Corn from the Socket of Davis
| next_year = 1985
| misc = {{Extra album cover
| header = Back cover
| type = Studio album
| cover = Butthole Surfers Psychic Back.jpg
| border =
| alt =
| caption =
}}{{Extra album cover
| header = Alternative cover
| type = Studio album
| cover = Butthole Surfers UK Psychic.jpg
| border =
| alt =
| caption = UK cover
}}
}}
{{Music ratings
|rev1 = Allmusic
|rev1score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite web|title=allmusic ((( Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac > Review )))|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r78956|pure_url=yes}}|publisher=Allmusic|author=Raggett, Ned|accessdate=March 17, 2010}}
|rev2 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
|rev2score = {{rating|3|5}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_NNmFiUnSmUC |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |last=Larkin |first=Colin |date=2011-05-27 |publisher=Omnibus Press |isbn=9780857125958 |pages=2987 |language=en}}
|rev4 = Rolling Stone
|rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}Brackett, Nathan. "Butthole Surfers". The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. November 2004. pg. 123, cited March 17, 2010
|rev3 = Robert Christgau
}}
Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac is the debut studio album by American rock band Butthole Surfers, released in December 1984 by Touch and Go Records in America and Fundamental Records in England. All songs were written and produced by the Butthole Surfers.
This was Butthole Surfers' first album on Touch and Go, and was originally released on clear vinyl. It was reissued on Latino Buggerveil in 1999.
The album's back cover and label photos were produced by artist Michael Macioce.Michael Azerrad, Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 (New York, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2001) 306.
Background
According to guitarist Paul Leary, Psychic... was recorded in a very substandard studio. Leary also claims he and Haynes were living in a tool shed at the time of the sessions.[http://ngro_obsrvr.tripod.com/articles/tongueterror.html Ken Lieck, "Reissuing the Butthole Surfers," The Austin Chronicle Newspaper Vol. 18 Issue 52] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071110202041/http://ngro_obsrvr.tripod.com/articles/tongueterror.html |date=2007-11-10 }}
Butthole Surfers weren't under contract to any record label when they recorded this album. Upon its completion they offered it to Alternative Tentacles, who had released the band's first two EPs but could not afford to distribute the new project.Michael Azerrad, Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 (New York, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2001) 281. This, combined with questions the group had regarding Alternative Tentacles' handling of royalties from the band’s self-titled debut and the Live PCPPEP, resulted in the album ultimately being released on Touch and Go.[http://ngro_obsrvr.tripod.com/articles/recordcollector.html Mark Paytress, “The Butthole Surfers: Mark Paytress Unravels the Career of the Cult American Band,” Record Collector No. 114, February 1989] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070702071748/http://ngro_obsrvr.tripod.com/articles/recordcollector.html |date=2007-07-02 }}, archived at Butthole Surfers fan website, [http://ngro_obsrvr.tripod.com/ Negro Observer] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061215161859/http://ngro_obsrvr.tripod.com/ |date=2006-12-15 }}
Track listing
All songs written and produced by Butthole Surfers.
=Side A=
{{Track listing
| title1 = Concubine
| length1 = 2:27
| title2 = Eye of the Chicken
| length2 = 1:36
| title3 = Dum Dum
| length3 = 3:47
| title4 = Woly Boly
| length4 = 2:45
| title5 = Negro Observer
| note5 = CD/LP versions only
| length5 = 3:39
| title6 = Butthole Surfer
| length6 = 3:02
}}
=Side B=
{{Track listing
| title7 = Lady Sniff
| length7 = 3:45
| title8 = Cherub
| length8 = 6:22
| title9 = Mexican Caravan
| length9 = 2:46
| title10 = Cowboy Bob
| length10 = 2:55
| title11 = Gary Floyd
| length11 = 1:56
| total_length = 35:04
}}
=UK CD bonus tracks=
- "Moving to Florida" – 4:32
- "Lou Reed" – 4:57
- "Two Part" – 4:20
- "Tornadoes" – 2:36
- Tracks 12–15 were taken from 1985’s Cream Corn from the Socket of Davis EP. In the US, these tracks appeared instead on the CD release of the Surfers’ 1986 album, Rembrandt Pussyhorse.
Personnel
- Gibby Haynes – lead vocals, saxophone
- Paul Leary – guitar, vocals on "Mexican Caravan" and "Gary Floyd"
- Bill Jolly – bass
- King Coffey – drums
- Teresa Nervosa – drums
Charts
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| scope="col" | Chart (1985)
! scope="col" | Peak |
|---|
| UK Indie Chart{{cite book |first=Barry |last=Lazell |url=http://www.cherryred.co.uk/books/indiehits/b.htm |title=Indie Hits 1980-1989 |publisher=Cherry Red Books |date=1997 |accessdate=September 5, 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606125710/http://www.cherryred.co.uk/books/indiehits/b.htm |archivedate=June 6, 2011 }}
| style="text-align:center;"|12 |