Thank God for Mental Illness (1996), while not a commercial success, is one of the lasting testaments to Anton Newcombe’s prolific songwriting ability. That is not to say that all the songs are so amazing (they’re all essentially inversions of the one that come immediately prior to it), but rather, the output is immense and generally cohesive. Newcombe & co. build on their reputation for being rock ‘n’ roll outcasts, badasses with a mission - think Kowalski from Vanishing Point, but with guitars instead. The album, as well as the collective insanity of the group (see the documentary DiG! for further confirmation of this well publicized fact), manifests itself in raunchy guitar burners like “Talk - Action = Shit” and smoldering hippie-jams like “Sound of Confusion”, solidifying their crazed and manic cult of homage-rock. It’s a fun album on the whole, only aiding and abetting the persona and myth of the Jonestown boys; on the whole a definite addition to any rocker’s catalog.
Download “Thank God for Mental Illness”
link