Kicking Giant – This Being the Ballad of Kicking Giant, Halo: NYC/Olympia 1989-1993 2xLP (Drawing Room)

Halo was issued in 1993 as a compilation of the Kicking Giant’s work since its inception—a mix of previously released songs on cassette and more recently recorded artifacts since their relocation to Olympia. The concept of the album was to take advantage of the expanded capacity of the CD format and create an ersatz mixtape. The song selection wildly fluctuates from melodic-punk ("Satellite", "Weird") to anarchic ("Go Girl"), experimental abstraction ("Rachel’s Song") to delicate ballads ("If Not You", "The Way That You Are"). In between there are lo-fi, 4-track experiments ("Cry Baby Cry", "Hi"), an appearance by celebrated artist, Nikki McClure ("Rocket Dreams"), a dreamlike cover of a Gershwin tune ("Five–I Loves You Porgy"), layered guitar noise graffiti ("Throw", "Halo"), and a bona fide punk anthem ("Fuck The Rules") thrown in for good measure. By 1989 it seemed that much of the impish glamour associated with downtown New York had dulled, leaving in its place a mood of sleazy de