Mudhoney - The Lucky Ones (LP, 2008)

Wanna hear about what an idiot I am?

Mudhoney played a show in Portland last night and I didn't find out about it until today. I am unstoked. I heard it sold out really quick (it was in a tiny venue - double argh!), so maybe I wouldn't have been able to get in anyway, but it would have been the best topper to this Mudhoney spree we've been on! I am old, out of the loop, and really feeling like a dunce. I'm actually sort of embarrassed by how legitimately upset I am by this. I've been on a huge Mudhoney kick lately and I would have loved to have seen them.

Anyway. On with the entry at hand.

Like a lot of great bands who have stayed together longer than anyone expected, Mudhoney experimented with some shit, made some great albums while trying that new shit, and then returned to their bread and butter. This is the revival of raw-rock Mudhoney, a horn-less album that was recorded in a scant four days but doesn't sound rushed or compromised at all.

It's really great to hear the band get back to the guitars-and-a-little-bit-of-organ approach, and there's some really great songs on here. The title track is the only one of any notable length (4:52), and it features a sweet mini-drum-solo by Dan Peters, which will make you wonder why they never left room for that before. The reason I mention the length is to point out that the long jams are gone, with the band back to the ol' three-minute rock song.

"And the Shimmering Light" is a great example of this, a fairly mellow little ditty that features the band flirting with pop, but kind of in the way they did on "Good Enough" in 1991. It's great. The rest of the record mostly sticks to the rock, and like I said, it's damn nice to hear the band do the no-frills thing. The songs are solid, and they'll grow on you. The LP comes with a bonus 7" that includes two cover songs, one by Pere Ubu ("Street Waves") and one by The Troggs ("Gonna Make You Mine"). Not often that Mudhoney does covers, so that's cool to have.

I'm pretty excited about this record right now, mostly because it's their newest one. I sometimes whine about all the bands I love breaking up, but I've never been able to add Mudhoney to that list, and that's a great thing. Now I just need to keep better track of their touring schedule.

"The Lucky Ones"

Mudhoney - Under a Billion Suns (LP, 2006)

Are you ready for Mudhoney to get political?

If you had told me in 1992 that Mudhoney would someday put out an album filled with horns and anti-war sentiments, I would have guffawed and gone back to listening to their version of "Hate the Police" for the fifth time consecutively. But things change, and honestly, I appreciate the fact that Mudhoney changed. (Though I probably would have been equally happy if they would have just remade their debut over and over.)

Under a Billion Suns is actually a lot like their previous LP, Since We Became Translucent. Both begin and end with monster songs, both have a few tracks in the middle that aren't too notable, and like I mentioned previously, they both have horns. However, Under a Billion Suns tends to rock a little bit more, and that's never a bad thing.

After the wide-open weirdness of "Where Is the Future," the opening track that finds Mark Arm wondering why we don't have flying cars yet (?), the band gets a good one-two punch together with "It Is Us" and "I Saw the Light," two tracks with thick layers of guitars and nice build-ups. "It Is Us" is the first song where you get the vibe that Arm is getting worked up about the state of national affairs, talking about bombs and whatnot. This continues in a later track, "Hard-On for War," and possibly in a few others, depending how you want to look at them.

Admittedly, it's weird to hear Mark Arm singing about anything serious, but it does make a nice switch from the vagueness of most of the other lyrics on the album. And while Mudhoney albums used to be as much about the lyrics as they were about the music, the longer the band went on, the more it shifted towards the music side. This record features some of their more complicated tunes (the horns certainly add another element), and they still seem eager to experiment, which is great.

This record ends strong, with "On the Move" and "Blindspots" (the third-to-last and last songs, respectively) being two of the best songs on the album. Mudhoney were full-on veterans at this point, and though the songs aren't quite as strong as they may have been 15 years previous, they're smarter and more confident. And that makes it really fun to listen to.

"I Saw the Light"

Mudhoney - Since We've Become Translucent (LP, 2002)

Mudhoney took four years off, got themselves a new bass player, went back to Sub Pop, and released a record that is probably pretty divisive among their hardcore fans. I don't know about anyone else, but I never really expected the band to incorporate horns into their music.

But incorporate they did, and this album ends up being probably the most "mainstream" (it's a relative term here) album the band has made. That is, after you get past the eight-and-a-half minute opener, "Baby, Can You Dig the Light," which features the band going psych-rock a little bit. Not the greatest song they've ever done, but I respect the shit out of putting it first. A gutsy move, to say the least.

I haven't had this record for very long, so I fear that I'm not going to have a ton to say about it. But I've been listening to it fairly steadily for the last few days, and it's growing on me quick. The sound is definitely different, but it's not that different, and if the band was attempting to write catchier tunes (for whatever reason), they pulled it off. "The Straight Life" and "Where the Flavor Is" are both crazy infectious and don't fuck around at all. They're solid little three-minute songs that get the job done.

"In the Winner's Circle" and "Our Time Is Now" both bring the blues vibe back a little, which works, and "Dyin' for It" is a propulsive rocker that follows them nicely. "Inside Job" is another steady track, and it features some gritty guitar work that is tough to deny. "Take It Like a Man" threatens to bring the album to a standstill (it is probably my least favorite Mudhoney song ever), but thankfully it's only two and a half minutes long.

The album is capped off by two long ones: "Crooked and Wide" and "Sonic Infusion." Both sound remarkably like their titles. The latter clocks in at almost eight minutes, making it a nice bookend, along with the opener. Apparently the band was getting into the long jams. It's a weird move, but they pull it off. The song closes things out with chaos, which is a good way to do it.

Like I said, I'm still settling into this one. But it feels pretty damn good so far. And the clear vinyl (you can't title the album that and not press it on translucent wax) is super schweet.

"The Straight Life"

Mudhoney - Tomorrow Hit Today (LP, 1998)

This record marks the end of an era for Mudhoney. Not only is it their last album on a major label, it's also their last record with bassist and founding member Matt Lukin, who, as everyone knows, was the supreme stallion of the band. In fact, I feel terrible for not mentioning him until now. Mudhoney is still going, and they're still great, but they just aren't the same band without Lukin.

But he went out with a bang. This album remains one of Mudhoney's lost gems, a record that has gotten nothing but better with age. I bought this right when it came out, and I'm glad I did. (Not only for the music. The vinyl seems tough to find these days.) This was one of the first records I picked up when I moved to Portland from Eugene, and it was the sort of dark, slightly dreary rock I needed. But it took me a while to come to that conclusion. This record's a creeper. At first, it seems like the band's showing some restraint. The songs aren't as immediately forceful as they had been up to this point. But once you settle in, you realize that the group was experimenting with some new sounds. They might have even been - gasp! - maturing.

But not too much. Tracks like "I Have to Laugh," "Oblivion," and "Poisoned Water" are classic Mudhoney. But "A Thousand Forms of Mind," the album's opener, is in retrospect a real harbinger of where the band was headed. The track's thick, chugging guitar line, accompanied intermittently by organ, builds nicely, eventually breaking into a bridge unlike anything they've ever done before. It's pretty nuts to hear Mark Arm half-rapping, but it absolutely works.

"Try to Be Kind" is structurally a pretty standard Mudhoney track, but the guitars twang a lot more than usual, and the song is loose but groove-y. The album gets more bluesy as it progresses, and it works nicely to let you settle into the sound. The bluesier stuff is also coupled with a more garage-type sound than the band ever really attempted before, which was also one of the things that threw me off initially. (It's amazing how much the effects they use on their guitars can completely change the vibe of a song.)

The album ends with the five-minute-plus epic "Beneath the Valley of the Underdog," and this track in particular is a sign of the band getting into some new shit. It's long, slow, and more sprawling than a lot of their other songs. It took me a while to embrace this one, but I've done it. Same with this whole record. At the time, I wasn't really ready for a Mudhoney "transition" record, but now it makes perfect sense. I've been listening to this record a lot this week, and I'm loving it all over again.

"Poisoned Water" and a few others.

Mudhoney - My Brother the Cow (LP, 1995)

Ah, the angry Mudhoney album.

When Mark Arm says he's at the end of his rope in the opener, "Judgement, Rage, Retribution, and Thyme," he sounds pretty believable. By the end of the first verse of "Generation Spokesmodel," you can tell he means it. "Into Yer Shtik," with its "Why don't you blow your brains out?" appeal, seals the deal. This is Mudhoney in the aftermath of Seattle, standing on the ashes of grunge, and trying to navigate the post-Cobain musical world. And they're not stoked about it. And it's great.

1995 was an awkward year for rock music, with bands like Mudhoney still signed to major labels (this record was released on Reprise), but with interest among the public waning. I have to admit: I didn't even hear this record until a few years after its release. It still grips me as the Mudhoney post-war album, the weird one that finds them trying to pick up the pieces of what the fuck happened to them in the early part of the decade. Again, you can't blame them for being pissed. And this record, in parts, is a venting of all those frustrations. Which shouldn't overshadow the fact that it's filled with some of the band's most unique - and strangest - songs.

"In My Finest Suit" is dark and dreary, a song that almost sounds like it could have been on one of their first records. It leads right into "F.D.K. (Fearless Doctor Killers)," which, unless I'm missing the point, is one of the most socially aware songs the band's ever done. "Orange Ball-Peen Hammer" is a mashed mix of slide guitars and blues-rock, and ends up being a damn cool song.

But the real jam here might be "Execution Style," one of the more "Classic Mudhoney"-sounding songs. It's angry, of course, and also a bit sloppy. And mixed in with all the other styles they tackle on this record, it makes even more sense somehow.

"1995" is the big closer here, and the way it gets dragged out at the end is fantastic. It's a fine ending to a fine album, and another one that remains sorely underrated. Never has the band been so bitter and so willing to focus that ire. I'll take it.

"Generation Spokesmodel"

Mudhoney - Five Dollar Bob's Mock Cooter Stew (CD, 1993)

Released about a year after Piece of Cake, this EP collects a group of seven disparate tracks that actually make for a nice little album. I'm just now realizing that this whole thing has been tacked onto the deluxe version of Piece of Cake, which I have yet to purchase and probably won't. So there you go.

If nothing else, this album features Mudhoney's worst (or best?) album title and cover art, taking a left-field approach that they wouldn't really ever come close to again. I don't really care for it, but that's just my opinion.

The songs here, like I said, are a mixed bag. "No Song III" is the most single-ready of the group, with the band using guitar tones that almost echo the ones used on their previous record, but the whole thing sounds popped-up a bit. I think it's a pretty cool track. "In the Blood" sounds like a nice mix of old and new Mudhoney, with the darkness of their oft-used organ making a sweet appearance. "Between Me & You Kid" would have made a nice partner to "Blinding Sun," though it's much more twangy than anything the band had done up to this point.

"Six Two One" sounds like a leftover from Piece of Cake, and it's a solid track. "Make It Now Again" is a rerecording of "Make It Now" from their previous effort, and I'd like to know the story behind why the redid it. Anyone?

So, those tracks were all recorded in one burst, and the final two tracks are pulled from a 1992 recording session, apparently, and you can tell. They sound different, both in the recording and the feel of the tracks. You can sort of see why they weren't deemed album-ready, but they're good songs nonetheless.

I hadn't heard this thing in a long time, and I recently picked up a used copy on CD. I'm happy to have it.

"No Song III"

Mudhoney - Piece of Cake (CD, 1992)

This was to be Mudhoney's big push, their major label debut that would catapult them to grunge superstardom. The time was right, the band was ready, and then... It didn't happen. Which just goes back to what I was saying in one of my earlier posts. I don't think Mudhoney ever had a chance of making it big.

This album, while arguably not quite as good as Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, is a great record. A fantastic record. Possibly my favorite Mudhoney record. And I think it still remains sorely underrated. I was just re-reading the Rolling Stone review written around the time the record came out, and if this dude's review was any indication of how the masses saw Mudhoney, they were fucked. The reviewer missed the point completely, and seemed to somehow scold the band for - gasp! - becoming ambitious.

And maybe that's why this album didn't resonate with people as much as it should have. It's not EGBDF part 2. It's Mudhoney, for the first time, expanding their sound and taking advantage of (what I assume to be) higher-quality studios. Or at least more time in the studio. These songs, while not outwardly complex, are really a step forward for the band, both musically and lyrically. Not that they lost their sense of humor - it's just more subtle, for the most part. (The exceptions being the interludes with the fart sounds.)

I bought this album right when it came out, and I was singing its praises to anyone who would listen. And I feel like people liked it, but maybe they were still looking to Mudhoney for "Touch Me I'm Sick"-type songs, and tracks like "Blinding Sun" and "Make it Now," which were more rooted in the four-minute rock song sort of form, just didn't give the immediate satisfaction they were looking for. (And whoever thought Mark Arm would use the word "countenance" in a Mudhoney song?) I actually liked the fact that this record - or at least parts of it - didn't grab me immediately. They grew on me, and because of that, this album is one I've listened to hundreds of times and never grown tired of.

And I don't mean to put too much emphasis on my "It's a whole new Mudhoney!" point. The band still cranked out songs wouldn't have been out of place on their previous record. "Suck You Dry," "Living Wreck," "Ritzville," and "No End in Sight" are all fast, ragged, and completely awesome.

The band must have been slightly pissed when this thing didn't connect the way they thought it would. Or maybe they didn't give a shit. That's what I'd like to think.

Another sweet thing about this release: The alternate cassette cover.

I really need to get this on vinyl...

"Blinding Sun"