This 1985 album is the second from the Golden Palominos, who are less a band in the ordinary sense than an ever-developing musical vision, operating mainly under the direction of drummer Anton Fier. While "Visions of Excess" retains much of the overwhelming sonic intensity of the first Palominos album, which had been grounded in the adventurous improvisations of early-80s New York, the album also represents the first in a series of major changes that have become typical of the Palominos vision. The first incarnation of the Palominos was centered on the partnership of guitarist and vocalist Arto Lindsay and percussionist Fier, who had worked together as part of the Lounge Lizards, John Luries eclectic jazz-influenced combo. The fertility of the noise-funk-rock improv scene of the 1980s was fully evident in their first recordings, which employed such artists as Jamaaladeen Tacuma, John Zorn, and Bill Laswell, among others; influences included such disparate musical visionaries as Edgard Varese, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Ornette Coleman, and John Cage.