The Harold Pig Memorial

The Harold Pig Memorial
The Harold Pig Memorial
Studio album by Circus Devils
Released	2002
Genre	Alternative rock, psychedelic rock
Label	Rockathon Records /the Fading Captain Series
Producer	Todd Tobias
Circus Devils chronology

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[1]
Popmatters	^[2]
The Broken Face

The Harold Pig Memorial is the second studio album by the American psychedelic rock trio Circus Devils, released in 2002. Conceived as a concept album, each song depicts an episode in the life of biker Harold Pig as told by Harold's friends at his wake.

Reception

Erasing Clouds's Dave Heaton wrote,

The album has an epic sweep to it which makes it feel like a journey. While the nonsequitors and genuinely creepy stretches make Circus Devils' music likely too odd for your average music fan, this isn't a hapless "side project" but an intricate, intoxicating epic showcasing a unique, hybrid form of rock.

On behalf of AllMusic, Karen E. Graves added,

Pollard's patented vocal hooks are sprinkled throughout and vicious guitar solos add to the Devils' sweeping sense of barely controlled chaos. The tone of the album remains dark and is again done on a grand soundtrack scale, but whereas Ringworm Interiors had a menacing, unsettling, perhaps David Lynchian feel, The Harold Pig Memorial has a more unifying, often suitably funereal (but still unsettling), musical theme woven throughout.^[1]

Track listing

Alaska to Burning Men
Saved Herself, Shaved Herself
Soldiers of June
I Guess I Needed That
Festival of Death
Dirty World News
May We See the Hostage
Do You Feel Legal?
A Birdcage Until Further Notice
Injured?
Foxhead Delivery
Last Punk Standing
Bull Spears
Discussions in the Cave
Recirculating Hearse
Pigs Can't Hide (On Their Day Off)
Exoskeleton Motorcade
Real Trip No.3
Vegas
The Pilot's Crucifixion / Indian Oil
Tulip Review
The Harold Pig Memorial

References

^ ^a ^b Graves, Karen E. "The Harold Pig Memorial". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2023-06-14. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
^ "Circus Devils, The Harold Pig Memorial". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2023-10-05.

[AllMusic-1] Graves, Karen E. "The Harold Pig Memorial". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2023-06-14. Retrieved 2023-10-04.

[2] "Circus Devils, The Harold Pig Memorial". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2023-10-05.

[1]

[2]

v t e Guided by Voices
Robert Pollard Doug Gillard Mark Shue Bobby Bare Jr. Kevin March Tobin Sprout Mitch Mitchell Greg Demos Kevin Fennell Jim Macpherson James Greer Discography
Studio albums	Devil Between My Toes (1987) Sandbox (1987) Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia (1989) Same Place the Fly Got Smashed (1990) Propeller (1992) Vampire on Titus (1993) Bee Thousand (1994) Alien Lanes (1995) Under the Bushes Under the Stars (1996) Tonics & Twisted Chasers (1996) Mag Earwhig! (1997) Do the Collapse (1999) Isolation Drills (2001) Universal Truths and Cycles (2002) Earthquake Glue (2003) Half Smiles of the Decomposed (2004) Let's Go Eat the Factory (2012) Class Clown Spots a UFO (2012) The Bears for Lunch (2012) English Little League (2013) Motivational Jumpsuit (2014) Cool Planet (2014) Please Be Honest (2016) August by Cake (2017) How Do You Spell Heaven (2017) Space Gun (2018) Zeppelin Over China (2019) Warp and Woof (2019) Sweating the Plague (2019) Surrender Your Poppy Field (2020) Mirrored Aztec (2020) Styles We Paid For (2020) Earth Man Blues (2021) It's Not Them. It Couldn't Be Them. It Is Them! (2021) Crystal Nuns Cathedral (2022) Tremblers and Goggles by Rank (2022) La La Land (2023) Welshpool Frillies (2023) Nowhere to Go but Up (2023) Strut of Kings (2024)
EPs	Forever Since Breakfast (1986) The Grand Hour (1993) Static Airplane Jive (1993) Get Out of My Stations (1994) Fast Japanese Spin Cycle (1994) Clown Prince of the Menthol Trailer (1994) I Am a Scientist (1994) Tigerbomb (1995) Sunfish Holy Breakfast (1996) Plantations of Pale Pink (1996) Wish in One Hand… (1997) Plugs for the Program (1999) Hold on Hope (2000) Dayton, Ohio–19 Something and 5 (2000) Daredevil Stamp Collector (2001) The Pipe Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet (2002) Down by the Racetrack (2013) Wine Cork Stonehenge (2018) 100 Dougs (2018) 1901 Acid Rock (2019) Umlaut Over the Ozone (2019)
Live albums	Live from Austin, TX (2007)
Compilation albums	The Best of Guided by Voices: Human Amusements at Hourly Rates (2003) Crickets: Best of the Fading Captain Series 1999–2007 (2007) Scalping the Guru (2022)
Box sets	Box (1995) Suitcase: Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft (2000) Hardcore UFOs: Revelations, Epiphanies and Fast Food in the Western Hemisphere (2003) Suitcase 2: American Superdream Wow (2005) Suitcase 3: Up We Go Now (2009) Suitcase 4: Captain Kangaroo Won the War (2015)
Robert Pollard solo albums	Not in My Airforce (1996) Waved Out (1998) Kid Marine (1999) Motel of Fools (2003) Fiction Man (2004) Relaxation of the Asshole (2005) From a Compound Eye (2006) Normal Happiness (2006) Silverfish Trivia (2007) Standard Gargoyle Decisions (2007) Coast to Coast Carpet of Love (2007) Superman Was a Rocker (2008) Weatherman and Skin Goddess (2008) Robert Pollard Is Off to Business (2008) The Crawling Distance (2009) Elephant Jokes (2009) We All Got Out of the Army (2010) Moses on a Snail (2010) Space City Kicks (2011) Lord of the Birdcage (2011) Mouseman Cloud (2012) Jack Sells the Cow (2012) Honey Locust Honky Tonk (2013) Blazing Gentlemen (2013) Faulty Superheroes (2015) Of Course You Are (2016)
Tobin Sprout albums	Carnival Boy (1996) Moonflower Plastic (1997) Let's Welcome the Circus People (1999) Lost Planets & Phantom Voices (2003) The Bluebirds of Happiness Tried to Land on My Shoulder (2010) The Universe & Me (2017)
Airport 5 albums	Tower in the Fountain of Sparks (2001) Life Starts Here (2002)
Boston Spaceships albums	Brown Submarine (2008) The Planets are Blasted (2009) Zero to 99 (2009) Our Cubehouse Still Rocks (2010) Let It Beard (2011)
Lifeguards and Doug Gillard albums	Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department (1999) Mist King Urth (2003) Waving at the Astronauts (2011)
Robert Pollard side projects	In Shop We Build Electric Chairs: Professional Music by Nightwalker 1984–1993 (1999) Big Trouble (2000) Choreographed Man of War (2001) Calling Zero (2002) Blues and Boogie Shoes (2006)
Circus Devils albums	Ringworm Interiors (2001) The Harold Pig Memorial (2002) Pinball Mars (2004) Five (2005) Sgt. Disco (2007) Ataxia (2008) Gringo (2009) Mother Skinny (2010) Capsized! (2011) When Machines Attack (2013) My Mind Has Seen the White Trick (2013) Escape (2014) Stomping Grounds (2015) Laughs Last (2017)