Jabberjaw No. 6 – Pure Sweet Hell

Jabberjaw No. 6 – Pure Sweet Hell was a compilation box-set that included four 7” records. It was released by Mammoth Records in 1996 (MR0133-7). It was envisioned as a fund raiser for the financially troubled Jabberjaw Café, a coffee house and music venue in a seedy neighborhood of Los Angeles. The club has since closed. Man or Astro-Man? contributed one song: “Earth Station Radio”. There were a total of 16 bands on the compilation, each contributing one song.

The 4 x 7” box-set came in a cardboard box that was designed to look like a pack of cigarettes. Each of the individual records was designed using images taken from vintage smoking ads. The records were pressed on black vinyl, and the picture sleeves were printed in black and white. Here is a scan of the record that featured the MOAM? song:




There were four inserts that came in the box. There was a Jabberjaw postcard, a Jabberjaw/Mammoth Records merch insert, a book of matches and an ashtray. This first scan shows both sides of the postcard, the merch insert and a white book of matches:


And here is a look at the ashtray:


I've also seen the matchbook printed on a yellow card. It could be that there are other colors as well. Here's a large shot of the yellow version:



And I've even seen a version come up for sale with a green matchbook. Here's a screen grab of that variation:

And here is the whole package (with the white matches and without the ashtray):



This appearance by Man or Astro-Man? was one of a few instances where they did not credit a rhythm guitarist. At this point Dexter X was on the way out, as was Starcrunch. The Clone Tour would soon follow, Crunch would leave to join a touring version of Archers of Loaf and MOAM? would regroup with two new guitarists (Blazar and Trace Reading). As for this recording, though, they were a three piece. In this state they would contribute to this comp, to the Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks comp and would release the Ex Machina 7" for Touch & Go.

For vinyl completists, this is a tough box-set to track down. Since it also features tracks by Jawbreaker, Low and Elliot Smith (playing guitar on the Mary Lou Lord track), it ends up being the piece that completes many different vinyl collections. And believe me, there are few things more disheartening than losing an eBay auction to some twit trying to fill out his Elliot Smith vinyl collection. If it’s just the songs you’re after, the set is still fairly easy to find on CD.