Nirvana - Live at Reading (2xLP, 2009)

I already did a review of the DVD of this show, so I'm not sure what else I'm going to add to that. The album is, aside from the odd exclusion of "Love Buzz" (think they might have had to yank a song to keep the set under 80 minutes), the same set as the DVD, and it's equally powerful.

While it's probably a little more fun to watch the band playing the songs, this live recording sounds so good that it's worth having in addition to the film. While From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah is a great live album, this one might win just for being one long, complete show, featuring the band at their peak. They sound so into it during this whole thing that I defy you not to get at least a little bit of a boner. Go ahead, try it.

The vinyl is a nice little set, with two thick-ass records that sound great, and a nice gatefold sleeve. A sweet addition to the collection. I said this in the entry for the DVD, but if you like Nirvana, you owe it to yourself to own this. It's blistering.

"Breed"

Nirvana - From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah (2xLP, 1996)

Released a few years after Kurt Cobain's death, this record was a shining light in the otherwise bleak musical landscape of 1996. For me, at least. Enough time had passed to process the loss of the band, and an official live album from the band seemed like a fine idea. And it was.

While the Unplugged album was a nice, solemn note for the band to end on, I for one was ready to remember the band as the screechy, scratchy, loud and uneven band that they really were. This record is perfect for that. Krist Novoselic assembled this thing, and he clearly intended to not leave any soft spots. "Polly" is the closest thing to the mellower side of Nirvana, but after the opening chords, they launch into a fast and heavy version of the song. Good stuff.

So, here's what I like about this set:

As I mentioned, the loudness is all-encompassing. It's a heavy album, and almost relentlessly so. I can get with that.

The recording quality is awesome, and the performances seem untouched. Some of the tracks are sloppy, but that makes it seem even more legit.

I wasn't initially excited to see "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on here, but the version they included is awesome. It was recorded right after Nevermind came out, and the band is obviously still really into playing the song.

Here are my few minor gripes:

It's not chronological. I know. Boo-hoo.

Even though the performances are culled from all sorts of different shows and years, it's all blended together to sound like one long show. It makes the sound more fluid, but it's bothersome to me for some reason. It's misleading or something...?

Otherwise, I love this thing. I bought this on vinyl right when it came out. The LP is sweet, because the fourth side contains nothing but random stage banter from the band - stuff that wasn't included in the CD release. It's not something I listen to more than every other year or so, but it's cool to have. This hasn't ended up being one of the more in-demand Nirvana records, but it's relatively hard to find. And until recently, it was the only official Nirvana live album, not counting Unplugged. So that's pretty sweet.

Definitely one of my favorite live records.

"Aneurysm"

Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York (LP, 1994)

While In Utero was Nirvana's last album, this will always be considered their last hurrah, with Cobain's blood-curdling last yelp on "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" continuously romanticized as his last public act. It is a striking image, and it's a nicer way to remember him than for how the remainder of his life played out. The MTV Unplugged performance is a great one, and as much as the act of doing it was very "corporate," the way Nirvana did it was admirable.

"Come As You Are" was the only single the band played (not counting "About a Girl," which was released as a single to coincide with the album's release), and of the other originals they played, there were some ones that obviously lent themselves to the acoustic arrangement of the show ("Polly," "Something in the Way," "Dumb") and a few that didn't ("On a Plain," "Pennyroyal Tea"). While the cover of the Vaselines' "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam" wasn't too surprising, the Meat Puppets segment and the cover of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World" were fairly random. Of course, it all worked.

When this first began airing on MTV, one of my friends taped it and we watched it repeatedly. Seeing the band play acoustic was just bizarre, but once we settled into that aspect of it, we quickly began to realize how great the performance was. Cobain looked healthy and happy, the band seemed rehearsed and genuinely pleased to be there, and most of all, the band who made their living being noisy as shit translated their songs perfectly to the stripped-down setting. If anyone doubted there were genuinely brilliant songs under the ragged guitar tones (not many did), they were proven wrong by this performance.

After Cobain's suicide, MTV played this thing into the ground and the tone of it instantly turned from easy enjoyment to sullen mourning. It wasn't hard: the flower arrangements made the whole think look like a funeral, and if you pay attention, you start to realize that almost every song in this set mentions death in one way or another.

I bought this record right around the time it came out, when I took a trip with some friends to Portland (from Eugene) to dick around and go record shopping. I have one of the first pressings on white vinyl and I've managed to hold onto it for all these years. I used to listen to it a lot, but I don't put it on nearly as much as I used to. It's a nice performance, but I've just heard it so many times. The record was good for two songs that didn't make it onto the initial broadcast: "Something in the Way" and an additional (and great) Meat Puppets song, "Oh Me."

This thing is worth checking out on DVD, too. I was going to write up a separate entry for it, but there's not too much to say that I couldn't say here. A few things are worth mentioning, though: the DVD includes the entire performance (between-song banter and all), as well as the originally aired version and a making-of doc that features some cool behind-the-scenes stuff.

Now if MTV would just put out a DVD of the Live and Loud show Nirvana did at the end of '93...

Nirvana - In Utero (LP, 1993)

When I saw Nirvana at the Portland Meadows in September of 1992, they played a few songs I hadn't heard before. I thought one of 'em was just a live jammer, but it turns out it was an early version of "Tourette's." The other two were starkly more memorable, as they were clearly almost-finished new Nirvana songs. One was "Rape Me," and the other was "All Apologies."

"Rape Me" stuck with me just because of the lyrics. I would also later see footage of Nirvana playing the first few bars of it the MTV Video Awards, which took place the night before the Portland Show. I don't remember it airing the night before the show that I went to, though it may have. I'm pretty sure I didn't see it that night, though. It's not important.

"All Apologies," aside from having one of the most instantly catchy melodies in the Nirvana catalog, haunted me because our local favorite video show, Bohemia Afterdark, played a short videotaped clip of it (from the show) the week after the concert. My brother and I were excited. We had no idea what the song was called, but man it was catchy. So, when In Utero was released almost exactly a year later, I expected those tracks to be on it. And they were. But other than that, I didn't know what to expect.

(Funny aside: I remember listening to In Utero for the first time with my brother and we kept waiting for "that song" to come on while we were enjoying the record. By the second half of the second side, we were starting to get worried. And then, boom. There it was. The last track. It was called "All Apologies." It was even better than we imagined it being. And all was fine again.)

For a while, I thought Cobain starting off the most anticipated album of the 90's with the lyric "Teenage angst has paid off well" was a bit much. I've since come to believe that it was a pretty sweet move; by getting that out of the way early, it became an acknowledgment that sort of shielded him from any criticism in that area. It just seemed very un-Nirvana at the time. And so did the song. But I was ready to head down any road the band wanted me to follow, so I learned to love this album real quick.

If they set out to make a less polished release than Nevermind (and they did), they pulled it off. This thing is screechy, sharp, and the drums are fucking huge. It makes for a very different sound, but it serves the songs well. Tracks like "Milk It" and "Scentless Apprentice" were deliberately challenging the listener, but songs like "Very Ape" and "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle" were instantly easy to love. Both of those songs still sound great.

"Pennyroyal Tea" was never one of my favorite Nirvana songs, and I think I'm in the minority on that. At track 9, it's put in a good spot on the record, though. The three songs that follow it, "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter," "Tourette's," and "All Apologies" are a great trio to end this record on, especially considering it would be Nirvana's last proper record. The fact that "All Apologies" is the last song on the last Nirvana album just makes too much sense, and it's beautiful, sad, and maddening all at once.

So, yeah, this would be the last Nirvana album issued while Kurt Cobain was still alive. And while it's not regarded in as high esteem as Nevermind, it's usually not placed far below that record in terms of quality and influence. And that's the way it should be. I'd argue that it's an equally important record in terms of the quality of the music, but the shitstorm that Nevermind started will never be equaled. I didn't know what to expect from Nirvana's post-Nevermind output, but I was never disappointed in this record. I've listened to it thousands of times, and it still sounds great to me. "Dumb" and "Rape Me" haven't aged super-well, but "Heart-Shaped Box" and "Serve the Servants" still sound as powerful as ever.

I have this LP on clear vinyl, from the original limited edition that was released (I believe) when this album came out. "Limited edition" is a relative term, but this thing is still in demand. And it should be. It's a great record.

"Milk It"

Nirvana - Incesticide (LP, 1992)

Probably doesn't warrant mentioning, but this is a compilation of pre-Nevermind Nirvana songs, released (from what I can tell) to tide fans over until their next proper record was finished. Worked for me. I'm fairly certain I had heard every track on Incesticide before it came out, aside from "Big Long Now," which had somehow not sneaked onto any of the tapes that were being passed around. Not trying to sound like a cool guy; I'm just saying. And the versions I had heard were ones that had been dubbed a jillion times, so I was ready to step things up.

Between having CD-quality copies of all these songs and the sweet extensive liner notes by Cobain on the inside (that mentioned the No on 9 benefit show I saw them at!), I could not have been more jazzed about this collection. I still think it's great. As usual, I wish they would have sequenced the songs in chronological order, but the recording dates for all the songs are all within the scope of a few years, so it's not that big of a deal.

The one track that's conspicuously absent from this thing is "Spank Thru," which was, to the best of my recollection, the first Nirvana song. I always wished that track would have kicked this thing off. But, that's a minor complaint. For folks who had fallen in love with Bleach, this thing was a godsend. Most of the cuts were of that era, and a lot of them retained that scratchy, dirty quality that made that record so fantastic. There are a few covers here (three of the four from Hormoaning), but for the most part, this thing is filled with Nirvana originals, which is awesome.

Casual fans didn't really care for this thing, but for those of us who were dying for something new from the group, this did the trick. And for me, I was crazy excited to even hear one song I hadn't heard before. I've never gotten the vibe that "Big Long Now" is a hugely popular Nirvana song, but I've always loved it. It's slow, slightly sludgy, and Cobain's vocals on it are incredible.

I still put this record on every once in a while, and I have no trouble rocking it front to back. I still consider it a fairly odd release, and I think I was pretty surprised when it initially came out. There are no songs on here with any commercial potential (aside from maybe "Sliver"), and DGC didn't make much effort to push it. I think this was the first Nirvana album that I bought on CD, now that I think about it. I had the "Come As You Are" and "Lithium" singles on CD, but not either of their first two records. In fact, strangely enough, I have never owned a copy of Bleach or Nevermind on CD. Maybe that's not that strange.

I bought an original LP copy of this record probably about ten years ago, along with an original copy of In Utero, at my favorite record store in Salem. Incesticide is on blue and white swirled vinyl and is awesome looking. Glad I bought it when I did, as they go for a good chunk of change now. Nothing outlandish, but they're becoming rarer and rarer. It's worth it. This is a real purdy record, and the songs are damn good as well.

"Big Long Now"

Nirvana - Nevermind (LP, 1991)

At the beginning of my sophomore year in high school, I had a friend who was - via his older sister and his predilection for blowing money on pot - more juiced-in with the older crowd (seniors!) than the rest of us. Between gravity bong hits, these older dudes were turning him on to some sweet music. We all had our ears to the ground, but he had enough expendable cash to actually buy these CDs (still a fairly new technology), and he was gracious enough to share from time to time. He had hipped me to Sonic Youth's Goo the previous year, and I was eternally grateful to him for that. The dubbed cassette he gave me was getting plenty of use.

He asked me at school one day if I'd heard Nirvana yet, and I admitted that I hadn't. He gave me a lift back to his parent's house after school, insisting that I had to hear it. I can't remember exactly how he prefaced the listening-to of the album, but I do know that he hyped it up immensely. Of course, I was skeptical, but I was more than game to give it a listen. His parents had a ridiculous sound system in their family room, and I saw him cranking the volume knob as he placed the disc in the tray. I waited.

I've romanticized the first time I heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit" to the point where I now usually end the story with me scooping handfuls of diarrhea of out of my underwear in my friend's guest bathroom while trying to get my boner to go away, but I'll spare you the hyperbole. But I can say, with complete conviction, that it just felt like something else. Like all this "alternative rock" that we'd been listening to for the past year or so had been building to something, and we didn't realize it until we heard it. But when we heard it, we knew, this was it.

The rest was a whirlwind. I immediately rushed out and bought the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" single on cassette (why didn't I buy the whole album?), and listened to it over and over and over. "Even In His Youth," a non-album track was on the b-side, and I rocked that hard, too. I mean, just repeatedly. Soon after that, I remember being in another friend's basement and seeing the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video for the first time. We couldn't believe it was on MTV. And then we couldn't believe that they were playing it every fucking hour. And then like a week later it was all of a sudden the biggest thing in the world.

And then in January they played on SNL, and my friends and I all got together to watch it. They played "Territorial Pissings" as their second song and wrecked their equipment. I wanted to stroke my teenage dong. By this time I had a proper cassette copy of the album, and it was all I listened to. We watched the "Teen Spirit" video every time it came on, and waited for the world premiere of the "Come As You Are" video. I bought the SPIN magazine with Nirvana on the cover and studied it like a textbook. I bought the Rolling Stone with the first article about Nirvana they did and took it to Kinko's and made a color copy of Kurt Cobain's face to hang on my wall. I grew my hair long and parted it down the middle. I bought a Nirvana smiley-face t-shirt from the local rock shop and wore it way too often.

I bought the "Come As You Are" CD single for the bonus live tracks, and the "Lithium" single for the unreleased cut "Curmudgeon" and the fact that it had all the lyrics to Nevermind on the inside. I found out that Cobain screams "God is gay" at the end of "Stay Away" and I thought that was fucking fantastic.

I bought the "Sliver" 12". I traveled to Portland to buy (the aforementioned) bootleg 7"'s which contained songs that no one had heard of. I combined these with dubbed cassette copies of other unreleased songs and made an entire mix of Nirvana songs that weren't on their proper albums. It sounded like shit but I didn't care. I even bought the Sassy magazine that Cobain was on the cover of. I wish I would have kept that.

And I listened to Nevermind until I thought I should have been sick of it, realized I wasn't, and kept listening to it. I eventually got a little tired of a few tracks on the first side, but I still contend that the second side of the album ("Territorial Pissings" - "Something in the Way") is one of the finest sides of a rock album ever. Songs like "Drain You," "Lounge Act," and "On a Plain" might never get old for me.

A guy I work with told me that he heard his nephew saying "What was that band Dave Grohl was in before Foo Fighters?" If I heard my kid saying that, I'd toss him out on the street. These fucking kids today.

I have an original U.S. pressing of this LP, and that's all I ever wanted. I found one many years ago in a record store, bought it, and I'll keep it forever.

When it comes to records that really played a huge part in my life, this might be at the top of the list. There's a few others, but if it really came down to it, it's this one. I feel like this album has fallen out of favor with critics over the years, and I'm not quite sure I get that. I listened to it today and it's still incredible. Every single song.

Nothing better could have come along for teenage me.

"Territorial Pissings"

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (CD, 1998)

After reading the praises of this album for almost a decade, I decided to pick it up a few years back. And when I say "praises," I mean rock critics declaring it one of the greatest albums of the last twenty years. So maybe I went into it with high expectations, or maybe I was too far removed from the time frame when it was originally released.

Either way, though I can see the appeal of this record, I guess I just don't get why so many folks are unbending in their desire to cup its balls. It's great lo-fi rock, and the songs are certainly solid. Why it has become one of the most heralded albums in the history of indie rock, I might never understand. Clearly it has affected some folks tremendously, but I've also come to the understanding that's it's quite divisive in its appeal. And while I certainly don't think it sucks, I don't find it good for much more than a casual listen every once in a while.

If someone wants to break down its genius for me, I'm all ears. Until then, I'm content with thinking that it's a fine record. And there's nothing wrong with that.

"Two-Headed Boy"

Mudhoney - A Fulminant Live Act in Early Summer 1992 (CD, 1992)

To think, I almost forgot about this, one of my oldest and most prized bootlegs!

Back in the mid-90's, you couldn't get bootlegs from anywhere other than tapes that people kept re-taping for each other, or, if you were lucky, CDs from stores that would dare to sell them. In Salem, we had a few stores that dared to sell them. And while you would think the shoddy quality coupled with the extreme illegalness of these albums would equal a lower price point, it was instead quite the opposite. CDs like this one, with nothing more than a one-panel insert and a hastily printed disc (this one says, simply, "MUD HONEY") cost somewhere in the range of thirty bucks. That amount of dough, to teenage me almost twenty years ago, made the purchase of one of these things a special occasion.

If I recall correctly, my brother got this for me as a gift for my birthday, and I could not have been more stoked. I had been eying it for months, but never had the money to lay down. I was incredibly happy to have it. My copy still has the typewritten (yeah, on an actual typewriter) track listing insert that I made for it, because this thing was so bare-bones that they couldn't even get that together. In fact, in three different cases, one track on the CD actually contains two separate songs. This was annoying if, say, you wanted to hear "Dead Love" - you had to fast-forward through "No End In Sight" to get to it. (Though I don't know why you'd ever ff through that song.)

This is a great live set, capturing Mudhoney at their arguable peak. They run through a lot of shit from Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, a nice mix of early stuff, and the aforementioned "No End in Sight" is a slightly different version than the one that ended up on Piece of Cake later that year. They also do "Make It Now" and "Living Wreck" from that forthcoming album, so those must have been treats for the audience.

The show wraps up with a scorching version of "In 'N' Out of Grace," after which they come out and do three covers for the encore: "You Stupid Asshole," "Fix Me," and "Hate the Police." Nice move.

The recording is shit, but I couldn't have cared less. And I'm still damn glad I have this thing. It's a keeper.

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"

Mudhoney - Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (LP, 1991)

Does it get much better than this?

Mudhoney picked a great time to put out their best record, and this thing, while summing up everything that was great about early-90's rock, is untouchable from start to finish. From the organ intro (!) on the instrumental first track, "Generation Genocide," to the aptly-titled last track, "Check-Out Time," this record never stops. (Aside from the weird little harmonica-blowing intro to "Into the Drink," which I would love to know the story behind.) It's a front-to-backer, folks. Put it on and walk away from the stereo.

While Mudhoney were great on their first LP, they're certifiably brilliant on this one. The hooks are infectious, the recording quality has stepped up (but not too much), and guitarist Steve Turner, who was previously probably considered "good for what he's doing," is now "good" without any need for a further disclaimer. Songs like "Good Enough," "Something So Clear," and "Pokin' Around" are among the best Mudhoney would ever make, and I could really say that about almost every track on here.

Mark Arm is still unlucky in love, but instead of sounding overwhelmed with bitterness, he seems merely fueled by bitterness (which is a little bit better, right?), and he uses it to wrench all sorts of energy and even a little bit of hopefulness out of some of the songs. Tracks like "Thorn" and "Into the Drink" even make it seem like it's getting over things. Either that, or he's ready to murder someone. Whatever works.

I watch documentaries about the NW scene, or grunge, or whatever they want to call it, and people always say stuff like "I really thought Mudhoney was going to be the breakout band from Seattle." I'm not sure if I really understand that. Even when I was huge fan of theirs during this time, which was probably the peak of their popularity, I never felt like the mainstream would be accepting of them. They always struck me as that lovable gang of misfits who might get close to the big prize, but never really hit the big one. And that's exactly why I thought they were so awesome, and exactly why I still think they're so awesome. When they signed to a major label, I always pictured that these guys were finding a way to fuck up the system from the inside. Maybe that's just wanted to think. I don't even really know where I'm going with this.

But I do know that this would be Mudhoney's last album before they signed with a major, and they made it count. If you met somebody and they wanted to know what "grunge" sounded like, you could hand them this. I don't know if that's a good or a band thing, but like I said, this record sums it all up in less than 45 minutes. It's some landmark shit. And I say that in the midst of a huge Mudhoney phase that I've been wrapped up in for the last few weeks, but I mean it. This is a good one.

"Good Enough"

Mr. Bungle - California (CD, 1999)

Again, Mr. Bungle made us wait four years for a new album, and again it was completely different than the one that preceded it. In fact, it was completely different than both of the albums that preceded it. The biggest surprise was that this album was almost - and I can't believe I'm saying this - accessible. Now, keep in mind, that's completely relative. But I remember being shocked that I might be able to put a Mr. Bungle song on a mixtape for a girl and she might actually like it (I'm looking at you, "Vanity Fair").

As usual, it didn't matter what Mr. Bungle did or didn't do. The songs are incredible, and this album stands up easily with their other two. And on the plus side, there's less dicking around just for the sake of dicking around. Instead, this thing is completely packed with music. While Disco Volante was frustratingly short on lead vocals from Mike Patton, on this album he goes nuts. On "Ars Moriendi," he barely clams up during the entire thing, and it's incredible.

We always thought every Mr. Bungle album would the their last (same thing with Faith No More - Patton must be a bitch to work with), so when this dropped and it was clear they hadn't phoned it in, I couldn't have asked for more. While it was clear this album was a contract-fulfiller (the packaging is minimal and cost-effective), it never comes off as one. The songs are, in typical Bungle fashion, incredibly complicated and also insanely infectious. "None of Them Knew They Were Robots" blew my skull open the first time I heard it, and it continues to do so. Same with "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare." And if there's a better song title than "Golem II: The Bionic Vapour Boy," I'd like to hear it.

This ended up being the last Mr. Bungle album, and "Goodbye Sober Day" ended up being the last song on it. It's a perfect one to go out on. The lyrics are creepy and dark, and so is the music. It's scattered with controlled noise, and anchored by a middle section that will punch you in the face. And you will love it.

My brother and I saw Mr. Bungle in San Francisco on New Year's Eve 1999, and it was an incredible experience. I talked about a little in this post, and if you want to see how awesome it was, you can check out a clip here. Wow, that was over ten years ago. Yikes. Anyway, it was shortly after this album was released, and seeing them play these songs live was incredible. I was never real keen on the California theme, but whatever. I always loved the shit out of this record, and I still do.

And I've always been glad I got to see them live before they hung it all up. This album in particular has held up really well. Cop it.

"Pink Cigarette"

Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante (CD, LP, 1995)

The four years between Mr. Bungle releases seemed like an eternity. It got to the point where I had almost given up hope, and then there it was, listed on the "upcoming releases" board at my local record store. Or at least I think that's how I found about it. Somehow I knew it was coming out, because I bought it the day it was released. And I was excited. Giddy, even.

Oh, wait! I know what happened. My roommate at the time worked at the University of Oregon campus radio station, and they received a promo copy of what was to be the first single from the record, "Desert Search for Techno Allah." I remember sitting in the studio, mashing a pair of headphones against my ears, and hearing the song for the first time. While I wasn't exactly expecting a sequel to their debut, it definitely took me a minute to process. The chorus is "Qiyamat qiyamat a tawil'/Qiyamat qiyamat insan al kamel," which just confused the shit out of me. Still does.

So, I had heard that song, and knew they were taking things in a different direction. When I bought the CD, I ran home, put it in, heard the first minute of "Everyone I Went to High School With is Dead," and realized they were taking things in a completely different direction. My friends and I spent the next month listening to Disco Volante, probably annoying everyone with it, while also learning to love it. Or at least most of it.

This is Mr. Bungle's most difficult album (by far), and one that, like Faith No More's Angel Dust, completely destroyed the foundations upon which the band was built. It frustrated me at first, but after I spent hours, days, and months with it, it made perfect sense. I don't know exactly what I'm talking about, but Mr. Bungle has always struck me as a band that is constantly moving forward, and probably gets sick of their old shit quicker than most bands. And instead of easing into a new sound, especially after four years, they clearly felt the need to completely redefine themselves. It worked.

And while this album is highly experimental and crazy tedious in sections, there's still plenty of great vocal parts, great musical performances, and a handful of tracks that certainly qualify as actual "songs." Of course, there's also tracks that toe the line, like "Violenza Domestica" and "Phlegmatics," and "The Bends," which is the closest they've ever come to making an unlistenable song. You made your point, guys.

One of my all-time favorite Bungle tracks is the one that closes this album out, the messy mind-warp that is "Merry Go Bye Bye." It's bashing, blaring noise, sandwiched between some of the lightest, most beautiful melodies that the band ever put together. And the lyrics have always been some of my favorites. Observe:

We reached for an outside point of view
But it's out of touch with me and you
I feel I'm walking into suicide
But you'll be right there by my side
To beam my message into space as I die
Bring back the shame of the many for the few
Get on your knees and I'll be coming back to you
Bring back the pain of an inverse world for two
It keeps me coming back to you

That's good stuff. I went - with a group of other Bungle fans - to see the band on this tour, and it was mind-blowing. If I recall correctly, they played "Travolta" and "My Ass is On Fire" from the first album, and they were very different versions than the ones that they had recorded. Other than that, it was straight Volante and a cover of Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend" during the encore. At one point, the crowd started chanting "Girls of Porn! Girls of Porn!," and we all agreed that they were idiots. It was clear to us that the "Girls of Porn" Mr. Bungle was only a faint memory. And, honestly, watching them pull of the songs from this album live made me not care in the least. It was amazing. And yes, they were wearing masks.

I somehow scored an original copy of this LP in a record store some years back, and though it's got a promo notch in it and it's missing the bonus 7" that was originally included, I still treasure it. Apparently there's a hidden track in a "double groove" on it somewhere, but I've never been able to get it to work.

"Chemical Marriage"

Mr. Bungle - Mr. Bungle (CD, LP, 1991)

When you talk about albums that shaped my teenage years (which I'm sure you often do), you can't not bring this one up. And while it definitely sounds a little dated now, it still brings back so many memories for me.

Faith No More hit it big in 1989/1990, and my friends, my brother and I were big fans. I'm not sure when we first found out about the existence of Mr. Bungle. Mike Patton wore a Bungle shirt in the "Epic" video, so that might have been the tip-off. Or maybe they were mentioned in a magazine article. Either way, we were aware of them, but had never heard them.

(As always, remember that this was pre-internet. You had to work - or wait - to hear the music you wanted, and it made the whole experience much more fulfilling. You kids today have no respect for music, and you're systematically killing it. Congratulations. But I digress.)

Then, one day, as I was flipping through the newest issue of Spin magazine, I saw it: a quarter-page ad for the forthcoming Mr. Bungle album. It had (from what I can recall - I've just spent the last 15 minutes searching for it on the web with no luck) a picture of the album cover, along with jokey text about some of the subject matter, and an admission that they couldn't reveal who the singer was because of a contractual obligation. The ad was for an album to be released on Warner Bros. and FNM were signed to Slash. Bingo.

I showed the ad to my younger brother when I got home, and we proceeded to get very anxious. This band was real. Mike Patton was clearly in it. And they looked to be weird as all get-out. We couldn't wait. I don't remember if the album was already out, or if we had to wait a few weeks for it to actually be released, but at some point shortly thereafter, my brother bought the cassette. I remember the first time we listened to it. We put it in, prepared ourselves for "Travolta," and stood back. Nothing. Then, after at least 30 seconds, something shatters like a bottle being broken on the ground and, because we had the volume cranked up in an attempt to hear the music that wasn't there yet, the guitars that open up the record blared through the speakers. Mission accomplished, Mr. Bungle. You scared the shit out of us.

It's little things like that, mixed in with all the mind-blowing songs, that make this record what it is: both incredibly brilliant and also pranky and borderline annoying. And we couldn't get enough of it. These guys played brilliantly, made music like nothing we'd ever heard before, and didn't seem to give a fuck about anything. At one point (during the end of "Slowly Growing Deaf"), there is what appears to be a recording of someone taking a monster dump. As a teenager, this amused me to no end. Eh, it still does.

There are ten songs on this album, and the shortest one clocks in at 5:14. The longest is 10:40. They are all meticulously written, arranged, and recorded. The lyrics are juvenile but the melodies are intricate and astounding. Classifying the music is impossible. Wikipedia calls it "experimental rock/avant-garde metal," but that might only be half of it, especially when you consider how much their sound changed over the years. But we'll get to that. For now, we're talking about this one. And I'm going to have to break it down song-by-song so I don't miss anything.

"Travolta," later to be known as "Quote Unquote" is, like I said, the album's opener, and it's a monster of a song. It is actually about John Travolta, and it's not complimentary. This was the only song that saw a video release from this album, though it never got any airplay. I never saw it until the internet came along. Key lyric: "He's a bird in flight, a hermaphrodite/And he fucks himself as he fucks the world."

"Slowly Growing Deaf" is a loud/quiet, fast/slow beast, a song that seems to be about the band's disdain for playing live, or maybe their hatred for shitty bands. I've never been sure which. This was an early favorite of mine when I first started listening to this album. Key lyric: "Wax within my ears has grown/Just like the snot inside my nose."

"Squeeze Me Macaroni" is a crazy funk-ish number that features Patton half-rapping and going completely nuts. The lite-pop payoff at the end is one of the greatest things ever. Key lyric: "I got yogurt meat loaf smeared all over my ass."

"Carousel" always struck me as the most radio-friendly song on the whole record, and it's also the shortest. It sounds like circus music, and features a great chorus. Like most songs on this record, it is best enjoyed through headphones. A lot going on here. Key lyric: "The clown that painted a smile on you/Is now the one unmasking you."

"Egg" is seven minutes of abstract metal/ska ridiculousness, followed by three minutes of what sounds like a recording of some dudes walking around. It is awesome. Key lyric: "The flooded cyst drains itself of pus/The lonely stomach chills unless it's drunk."

"Stubb (A Dub)" was always one of my favorite songs on this record, and it still is. The lyrics (which seem to be about a dog named Stubb A Dub) are actually sentimental if you want them to be, and the song has a breakdown that just gets me every time. Key lyric: "It's time to wipe your butt/Sliding down butt hill."

"My Ass is on Fire" is, surprisingly, the most lyrically abstract song on the record, though I've always suspected it's just about an old dude with hemorrhoids. It's probably my least favorite song on the album, but I still like it. Key lyric: "Impotence/Boomerang/I'll stab you."

"The Girls of Porn" is a song about watching porn and beating off to it. The band probably regretted it soon after making it. Loved it when I was 15, but this song in particular has really not aged well. Though the chorus is very catchy... Key lyric: "Nobody's home I'm alone/Aja & John Holmes."

"Love is a Fist," aside from having the greatest song title ever, is another abstract song, and another song that seems to be about masturbation. It is metal-heavy, and a great, great song. Maybe not as catchy as some of the other ones, but a quality rocker. Key lyric: "Clenched emotions/'Round my ween."

"Dead Goon" is the most musically abstract song on the album, and a perfect one to end on. It's complex, stacked with layers of sound, and sort of summarizes everything that preceded it. If you are a champ, you will sit through the whole thing. Key lyric: "Sex? There's no such thing/Choices left me laughing, choking, laughing."

I used to have this album on limited edition picture vinyl. Then I got poor and sold it. I got a bunch of money for it, but I miss it. I'm working on getting another copy. It's one of my major record-collecting regrets. But I'll always have the music, and that's something. Right?

"Travolta"

Thurston Moore - Psychic Hearts (CD, 1995)

I was all about Sonic Youth in the mid-90's, so when this solo album from their main dude came out, I copped that shit as soon as I could find a used copy on cassette. It took a while, but it was worth it. And as you can see, I've since replaced it with a CD copy.

Stupid thing I did: I found this on vinyl at Crossroads here in Portland a few months back (on colored vinyl, no less - I think green...?) and I didn't buy it. They were asking like 40 bucks for it and I just couldn't do it. Of course now I wish I had it, but I also think that wasn't a great deal. Whatever. My time will come.

Anyway, I think I first found out about this record via the "Ono Soul" video, which is a great clip and a great song. It basically sounded like the more stripped-down Sonic Youth stuff ("Winner's Blues," etc.), and I liked it. And Steve Shelley was on drums, so that wasn't a bad thing. (Does it seem weird to anyone else when someone goes solo and then takes certain members from their band with them? Must hurt the ones who get left out. Or maybe it doesn't.) Of course, this album doesn't sound unlike Sonic Youth, but it's much more sparse and much more ramshackle-y. And I dig it.

"Ono Soul" is probably the most immediately catchy tune, but cuts like "Patti Smith Math Scratch" and the title track are mad infectious as well. I also consider "Feathers" a favorite. It sounds like a leftover from the Experimental Jet Set album that Sonic Youth had just released. In fact, this whole record has that same whispery-distorted vocal thing that that record had, and I think it works pretty darn well.

It wouldn't be right if things didn't disintegrate into madness at the end, so the album wraps up with the five-minute weirdness of "Female Cop" and the almost twenty-minute "Elegy for All the Dead Rock Stars," which is definitely worth listening to if you've got some time on your hands.

All in all, an overlooked album. And a really good one.

"Ono Soul"

The Mono Men - Sin & Tonic (CD, 1994)

During one fleeting week, I had big plans to become a Mono Men fan.

They are featured in the movie Hype, and I found their appearance in the film amusing. In fact, I find their appearance in general amusing. They are an ugly, ugly band. They are NW rock semi-legends, and I have enjoyed every song I have heard from them. These were/are good reasons to get into this band. I decided to make it happen.

I came across a used copy of this CD, and bought the shit out of it. I took it home, listened to it like three times, filed it away, and completely forgot about it.

Listening to it now, I still like it. Maybe I need to put it in my car or something. Or maybe I need to wait for a 90's NW rock phase to hit me hard. I need to regain the feeling I had that one week. I was ready to commit myself to the Mono Men. It still seems like a good idea, but not a great one.

I'll come back around.

Live video of "Can't Understand" here.

Money Mark - Mark's Keyboard Repair (CD, 1995)

Man. In the mid-90's, I could not get enough of this album. Of course, I should mention that I was really high at the time.

I was down for anything Beastie Boys-related, so when I came across the CD by their main keyboard guy, I decided to get semi-obscure and scoop the shit up. While it wasn't exactly what I had hoped for (would a Mike D guest spot have killed him?), I ended up liking it more than I thought I would. It's mostly instrumental, has a scratchy vintage feel to it, and moves along quickly. There's thirty tracks, but they're all relatively short, and they all have memorable grooves.

I have not listened to this CD in probably 10 years. But I will keep it. Because it's fun. And it reminds me of how I used to push this record on people via mix tapes and/or playing it all the time, and nobody cared.

Did I mention I was really high at the time?

"Pretty Pain" and more.

Milk Cult - Burn or Bury (CD, 1994)

When you talk about Steel Pole Bath Tub side projects, you gotta talk about Milk Cult.

I haven't listened to this CD in ages, but the Mike Patton guest spot on "Psychoanalytwist" will forever be burned into my ear holes. One of the catchier noise-related instrumentals you're bound to hear, and a great song all around. And if you can stomach the sea of noise and rock on the rest of this disc, you may be in for a treat.

Some of the cuts are easier to get with than others, and the variation on the instruments and vocalists used makes for a fun listen. Listening to this now, it's all coming back to me a bit. There is a lot that happens on this album, and it can either be exactly what you're looking for, or just too much chaos to stand.

If Steel Pole Bath Tub is seeming a little too poppy for you, this is the next logical step. But be warned: the last 15 minutes or so of this one is a challenge. A real challenge.

"Bow Kiness Static"