The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape is an album by American punk rock band Big Black. It was released in 1987 by Touch and Go Records. The album is a CD compilation of Big Black's Atomizer album (minus the song "Strange Things"), "Heartbeat" single and Headache EP. Atomizer is pictured on the cover artwork as an eight-track tape playing in a Panasonic TNT portable player.
The title of the album, and the liner notes by Steve Albini, show the band's low regard for compact discs, drawing parallels between CD and the 8-track tape of 1970s, preferring to release all of their material on vinyl LP records.
Reception AllMusic called it "an indispensable compilation" and gave it a rating of 4.5 out of 5.
Track listing All songs written by Big Black, except where noted.
"Jordan, Minnesota" - 3:20 "Passing Complexion" - 3:04 "Big Money" - 2:29 "Kerosene" - 6:05 "Bad Houses" - 3:09 "Fists of Love" - 4:21 "Stinking Drunk" - 3:27 "Bazooka Joe" - 4:43 "Cables (live)" - 3:09 "Heartbeat" (Colin Newman) - 3:48 "Things to Do Today" - 1:44 "I Can't Believe" - 1:03 "My Disco" - 2:52 "Grinder" - 2:23 "Ready Men" - 3:51 "Pete, King of the Detectives" - 2:42
"Heartbeat" is a cover of the Wire song.
References