Last Rights (album)

Last Rights
Studio album by Skinny Puppy
Released	June 30, 1992
Recorded	1991 - 1992
Genre	Post-industrial, noise
Length	52:54
Label	Nettwerk
Producer	Dave Ogilvie, cEvin Key[1]
Skinny Puppy chronology
Too Dark Park (1990) Last Rights (1992) The Process (1996)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[3]
LA Times	[4]
Select	[5]
Sputnikmusic	[6]

Last Rights is the seventh studio by Canadian industrial band Skinny Puppy, released in 1992.^[7] The album included a ballad ("Killing Game"),^[8] a first for the group, as well as the dance-floor friendly track "Inquisition", and dense sound sculptures like "Download" and "Riverz End" (a joint remix of two tracks from the Rabies album, "Rivers" and "Choralone"). Amongst the numerous samples on the album, there are two taken from "The White Album" by The Beatles, with Revolution 9 and Helter Skelter featuring on "Love in Vein" and "Inquistion" respectively.

The album was supported by a tour, which would be Skinny Puppy's last for over 12 years. This was Skinny Puppy's last studio release for Nettwerk.

Production

Track 10, "Left Handshake", was omitted from the album because the band was unable to get clearance for the Timothy Leary samples taken from Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out, a recording for recreational background settings during LSD parties.^[9] Henry Saperstein, owner of the copyright on the recordings in question, denied the band use of the samples (even though Leary himself did not mind). Bootlegs of the track were highly sought by fans. It was later released by the band as a limited edition CD called "Track 10" in 2000.^[10] Several different mixes of "Left Handshake" appear to exist, one of which does not have Ogre's lyrics and has a much denser instrumental mix.

Release

Initial pressings of the disc released in Australia, and possibly elsewhere, were flawed because the track divisions were off by 4 seconds. This means the first 4 seconds are missing from the album, and there are an extra 4 seconds of silence at the end. Other copies released in North America had the same issue, except the first 39 seconds of the album were missing. It should also be noted, on this pressing, the track markers follow the original track times, and thus the first song ends 39 seconds before the end of track 1, and likewise, each song after starts within the track before it.^[11] Canadian Columbia House releases were known to have the CD art from Tormentor, a single from their previous album, while the music and all other artwork is correct.

No lyrics are included in the packaging, as Ogre considered them to be too personal.^[12] "Love in Vein" was a planned single by the band and was prepared for release, complete with remixes and b-sides, but was cancelled and not released. Some of the material intended for release on the single was later released on the Brap: Back and Forth Series 3 & 4 collection in 1996.

Track listing

All tracks written by Ogre/Key/Goettel. 

Personnel

• Nivek Ogre - vocals
• cEvin Key - drums, keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, production
• Dwayne Goettel - keyboards
• Dave Ogilvie (production, mixing)
• Ken Marshall (recording, mixing)
• Anthony Valcic (editing)
• I, Braineater (cover painting)
• Martijn de Kleer (synths - uncredited)
• John Rummen (cover layout)

Chart positions

References