Critic's Review
Greg Prato, All Music Guide
Firehose's seven-track mini-album from 1992, Live Totem Pole EP, proved to be a strong testament to the trio's high-energy live show. Recorded live at the Palomino in North Hollywood, CA, on August 16, 1991, Mike Watt and company sound possessed as they thrash their way through five covers and two overlooked originals from yesteryear. Although the Firehose precursor band, the Minutemen, had covered Blue Öyster Cult's "The Red and the Black" previously, the album-opening version included here simply shreds all previous versions (including BOC's original). Other covers include Public Enemy's "Sophisticated Bitch," the Butthole Surfers' "Revolution (Part Two)," Superchunk's "Slack Motherfucker," and Wire's "Mannequin." A pair of short Watt-penned compositions, "What Gets Heard" and "Makin' the Freeway" (the latter contains a humorous stage warning from Watt to a fan who's "throwing sh*t"), fit in well with the other selections. Shortly after its release, Live Totem Pole was discontinued, and it has become a collectors' item amongst Firehose/Watt fans.
