…features remastered audio by Heba Kadry.
Originally issued as a 45 rpm 12″ on Restless Records, You Must Be Certain of the Devil was, at the time, Diamanda Galás‘ most song-oriented and rockish release and would remain so until her collaboration with John Paul Jones.
Though inconsistent, at its best it reveals her as a remarkably strong and effective regular singer (if that term may ever be applied to her), delivering bluesy, hook-filled songs with drive and conviction. This is seen both in her chilling, re-worded version of “Let My People Go” and, most effectively, in the remarkable “Let’s Not Chat About Despair,” possibly the most piercing, eyes-wide-open song about AIDS, its symptoms, and societal prejudice against sufferers ever recorded.