The Melvins - Albums Retrospective
By: Charlie Potter
Six Songs - (1986)
Their debut release proper at the age of 22 shows The Melvins already considerably honing their sound from the high-speed hardcore that birthed them. Somehow the boggy marshland of the countryside of Montesano seems to have to had an influence on this slow murky recording, with Buzz howling as if he's some sort of bog monster.
Gluey Porch Treatments - (1986)
What an opener - 'Fly Eyes' is still one of the best Melvins songs ever record. Listening to this album now really does sound like witnessing the start of something really special. 'Gluey Porch Treatments' is only 37 minutes long, but it's got more chords on it than the majority of any full-length album released at the time. Eye Hate God, one of the most prominent sludge bands, cite this as the first ever sludge album, but at the same time it manages to be not at all dissimilar to grindcore, itself not long after the first grind albums such as 'Scum', Napalm Death's first LP, released in '85.
Ozma - (1989)
The three year gap was one of the longest periods that Melvins fans would have to wait for a new album. Many have referred to this as the clever second album that's not as good as the first, but that would be to undermine how just quite how clever 'Gluey Porch Treatments' is. The important thing is the two albums are very different, but sadly 'Ozma' will never generate the excitement that 'Gluey Porch Treatments' did simply because that was the first proper album from an exciting new band.
The sound is much more like that of the 'Six Songs' EP than 'Gluey Porch Treatments' - slow, complex drum beats abound, only now Buzz has taken the hyper complex guitar compositions and slowed them down to a thick heavy off beat chug. You might take the Kiss cover 'Love Thing' as a joke, but if that is the case then beware - there are much bigger jokes to come. 'Love Thing' is the beginnings of the Melvins fearlessness of doing something completely different, and if nothing else this song along with 'Fly Eyes' show that they've already a very matured and innovative ability to structure albums.
Your Choice Live Series - (1991)
Anyone who has the 'Salad of a Thousand Delights' DVD will know what an exciting period this was for Melvins live shows. Generally live albums are for the slightly more hardcore fans and the same could probably be said of this, but it's such a good recording that you could play it to someone who hasn't heard the early years of the Melvins and they would still get a pretty good idea of what was going on.
Bullhead - (1991)
Once again, what an amazing opener - 'Boris' is still one of the best Melvins songs of all time. What 'heavy' exactly means comes into question listening to this song, perhaps the heaviest part of which is when the drums are stripped back to Buzz and his guitar slowly chugging away on one string, singing the most guttural of expulsions. Half of 'Bullhead' is the logical continuation of 'Ozma' but the trio of songs in the middle are a fantastic insight to the future of the Melvins - oh, the incredible future of the Melvins! It's on 'Shoved', driven by a brilliant bass line, that the Melvins start embracing a simpler way of writing relying on just brilliant tunes, and the same can be said of 'Zodiac'; two amazing riffs aren't going to make a rubbish song, put it that way. These songs provide a brilliant counter point for the complex songs on the rest of the album and previous records. It's a shame really that it sounds on this album as if Buzz was really open to working with a bass player musically in a similar way to working with Dale as a drummer. All sorts of rumours surround the various bassists of the Melvins, but there's more than enough to talk about in the music so as not to get to potentially sidetracked by the soap opera of the Melvins.
Egg Nog - (1991)
What a generous Christmas gift this was - only a few months after their last offering, this incredibly exciting little 4 track gem is more than enough to get you into the festive spirit. This is the messiest, most discordant offering the Melvins have ever put out, and it only adds to the excitement of listening to an EP that is so brimming with ideas. How else do you follow three fast exciting up beat tracks? Well, if you're the Melvins, you follow it with one of the most harrowing lengthy songs you have ever written, whilst mournfully singin' 'Bastards taken my life away...' The song structures on this recording are insane, and it's a sound they partially return to in later years on 'Honky' and 'Hostile Ambient Takeover'. There is no other band in the world who have written song structures this off beat and manage to maintain the level of charm that the Melvins do, let alone EP structures. Well, maybe Orthrelm...
King Buzzo - (1992)
This is a little EP of Buzz and Dave Grohl (under the pseudonym 'Dale Nixon') 0messing around, a fun little EP on which Grohl displays again that he's clearly a brilliant drummer, but alas it doesn't quite feel like a Melvins EP. That being said, it is a brilliant piece of work - there's a great freedom here, it sounds like they just got together and messed around, did a rock song, then thought they'd do a weird noisy one before a little anthem. And to finish it off, Dave whacks on something that he's been messing around with for your amusement.
Dale Crover - (1992)
This recording is a testament to what a big grunge fan Dale is, and it is a good insight to how Dale will later carry on with Altmont, that being with simple guitar and melodic singing, trying to capture the spirit of the age. Dale is great song writer, and if you haven't heard Altmont then you should - they're not just some b-rate Melvins spin off, and have their very definite own sound.
Joe Preston - (1992)
Apart from the name, this EP doesn't have all that much to do with the Melvins. Joe only played with the band for a couple of years, and what this is essentially is the first Thrones EP (if you don't know Thrones then sort your bloody life out, you're wasting your time). Anyone who does know Thrones or any of the other projects Joe Preston's been in for that matter (Earth, Sunn O))) or High on Fire for example) will know that Joe is totally nuts. There are three people credited for this EP, but they are almost certainly all Joe - he's even using his trade mark drum machine.
This is actually a really good EP in virtue of the very fact that Joe is a weird guy, one not afraid of doing the strangest, funniest thing he can think of, including having the mesmerising combination of some elevator music, the sound of a fire burning and a child crying all at once as an opening track. He finishes off his self titled EP with an intense 23 minute song, (which is the most doom / drone laden track the Melvins have done up to this point). It has to be said, and I'm sure Buzz has very good reasons for initiating his departure, but it's a shame Joe had to go. He's a good lad.
Lysol - (1992)
What the Melvins really establish here (something that they achieved to an extent on 'Fly Eyes') is that they can do things to you at will. The opening song (apparently titled 'Hung Bunny', although there aren't any sleeve notes), is a sonic experience that seems to go way beyond the power of three people, it's as if the very fabric of everything has opened up to reveal the enormity of enormousness itself. It sounds like something that you might not like - you might think you're not into the crudeness of enormousness, but there is nothing at all simple about this majestic beast.
The question is would bands like Boris and Sleep be the same if it wasn't for this recording? I will leave it to you decide, but one thing is certain those bands don't have one particular very special thing that this band does, and that 'thing' is Dale Crover. There is no drummer in the world even remotely like Dale, or that can do the things that Dale can do with a drumkit. No argument.
There are three brilliantly played covers on this album. Their version of 'Sacrifice' in particular is a very moving experience, and is even better live. To this day the Melvins have kept up their strongly anti war motto, and this song clearly means a lot to them.
Houdini - (1993)
Atlantic had such a weird approach to grunge, signing two of the best and most non-commercial grunge bands that have ever existed (the Melvins and The Butthole Surfers) and then being really annoyed at them for not being pop bands.
Yeah, yeah, Kurt Cobain is on this album - but he doesn't really do much, and isn't exactly integral to it. It's really difficult trying to communicate the phenomenon of the Melvins just releasing brilliant album after brilliant album just getting better and better, but I will say that this is their first slice of genius. However, and I hope you're listening, that doesn't mean that my words about their previous recordings are hollow. This is a hard meaty slab of brilliance, I have to use the word 'brilliance' because there is no actual genre that fits the Melvins neatly - their only style is brilliant. They are a bloody serious but also funny and musically dynamic band at the worst of times, but there is something about the sheer amount of gristly material here that is enough to keep you coming back for years and hearing it a new light.
'Houdini' is an album to love and then forget how much you love it and love it again in a new way and then forget how much you love it and love it again in a new way and etc.
Prick - (1994)
Maybe the media world can be forgiven for treating this album like a joke and not giving it much attention as the Melvins didn't seem that bothered either. Supposedly they released it to make money for the 'Stoner Witch' sesisons. But one thing that I have never even heard the band admit to is that 'Rickets', the second song, is a brilliant track - one worth owning 'Prick' for alone. I played 'Pickin' It And Flickin' It' to a friend who is into all his Steve Vai and all that guff, and he was genuinely impressed. I think it says a lot about a guy (Buzz) when the only time he shows off his exceptional guitar ability is on an obscure album on an obscure label.
So yeah, the band aren't trying, but that doesn't mean it's rubbish - most of the better Butthole Surfers stuff was made when they weren't trying hard. When you actually play this album back it sounds like a strange Eno album, maybe not one to heartily rock out to, but I'm glad I've got it and enjoy listening to it.
Stoner Witch - (1994)
YES! 'Stoner Witch' is the first really well produced Melvins album. At times the muddy recordings suited the Melvins, and I wouldn't want 'Houdini' any other way, but it was about time that someone forked out for a decent studio and producer. Producer 'Gggarth' is also responsible for the first Rage Against the Machine album amongst other things, so he knows how to do the big bucks.
This is a lot of people's favourite Melvins album - they're wrong. But you'll see why as we continue. It's by far their most poppy effort, with all the hits stacked towards the front. One of the songs even ended up being on an episode of 'Jackass', if you can believe that.
What those people don't realise is that most of the other records have at least got bits if not whole songs that are this exciting and anthemic - they're just not at the front of the album. Yeah, that's right guys, I'm afraid you're gonna have to listen for more than 20 minutes to get the full gist of, well, any Melvins album that lasts longer than 20 minutes. After the 4 hits, the album goes in to the brilliant, laidback yet sinister finger clicking of 'Goose Freight Train'. It's followed by one of their best songs 'Roadbull' - fast, slow, heavy, quiet, loud, anthemic and it all ends with one of the most beautifully whistled gentle yet militant melodies, backed up by the most orchestrated little drummer boy per rum pa pum pum sounds in the world. I want nothing more from a Melvins song. The album then continues into three weird spaced out tracks, one heavy, one noisy then one creepy, only to be broken by the fantastic instrumental 'Junebug'. It then descends back into the weird creepy sound of 'Lividity' - 'what do you mean, my lungs are fine?!'
Stag - (1996)
Cor' blimey, what doesn't this album have? Something that's particularly special about 'Stag' is that the Melvins are really hitting home by this point that they are not just a metal band. 'Black Bock' proves this more than adequately, and though once I can imagine people dismissing this song as a joke, this really isn't the point - it's a brilliant melody driven track, and I don't think there's even a hint of irony here.
This is also a lot of people's favourite, but again they're wrong. Though perhaps this is the best introduction to the Melvins so far, there are still albums that are yet to be discussed that are a better beginning, but a lot of people end up going for this because its usually cheaper. However, though it may cost less, I know I'd rather see my money go to Ipecac than Atlantic any day.
This is probably the album with the most integrated, 'proper' basslines since 'Bullhead', and is the height of Mark-D's (Mark Deutrom) input into the band - he even gets his own track, 'Jacob's Lab', and writes the lyrics to 'Lacrimosa'. It would seem it takes a long time to win Buzz over as a bass player. The songs on this album a lot of the time come in couples which makes for a really interesting way of structuring a record. It means you're led through album as if on a journey, but there are also a great deal of counter points that wake you up every so often.
One of the undoubtable highlights is 'Skin Horse', a song which draws a lot of parallels to 'Roadbull' in its anthemic yet heavy style with all sorts of other bits going on. I'm not ashamed to say I'm listening to it now and enjoying myself so much that I'm having to force myself to type just so I can share the total elation I'm experiencing right now. How generous I am.
Singles 1-12 - (1996)
Basically, this is the Melvins equivalent to a B-Sides and Rarities album, but instead of releasing stuff that was B-Sides as one CD (given that they didn't really release singles much) they instead have taken a whole bunch of stuff that probably would have ended up on b-sides (if they did them) and released them as singles, one every month for a year. It makes for a CD that consists of a few good covers, a lot of messing around with tapes, and a bit of live material.
Highlights include an amazing version of a Germs song called 'Lexicon Devil' with a women screaming as loud as she can being egged on by Buzz and friends, and the Melvins telling an appalling audience just how rubbish they are in the form of a song - it's easy to sing along, it just goes; "We hate, everyone of you, we hate, everyone of you". Repeat.
There's also a song featuring the band doing their wickedly funny mickey take of Britpop ('shitpop' apparently), which whilst it's not particularly accurate or clever is still pretty amusing whether you liked Britpop or not, but the real treat in this collection is the incredible cover of the Melvins song 'Zodiac' performed by Brutal Truth which is amazing.
Honky - (1997)
Yeah, that's right, four albums in five years - I bet that's more than your favourite band ever managed, unless of course your favourite band is Wolf Eyes or Venetian Snares.
I was all ready to insist that this is their best album, but from listening back to a lot of them today for the purposes of this article, I'm no longer so sure. However, I am sitting here right now listening to the opener 'They All Must Be Slaughtered' thinking how incredibly intelligent it is that they've managed to take the creepier element of their sound (as was mentioned in the summary of 'Stoner Witch') and give it as much aesthetic power as the first track on 'Lysol', but instead of the fabric of reality opening up as happened with 'Hung Bunny' you are instead chilled to the bone. The song was recently used at one of the best art shows in London this year in which artist Andreas Hofer provided an appropriately other worldly imagery for the track with paintings such as 'They Came From The Moon' and 'Forever People'.
There's a whole stack of really creepy music on this album, and it really is a very subtle, brilliant aura that stays with you. It's aided by the brilliant sound manipulation skills of David Scott Stone, who has worked with the band on and off since this album. I'm sure there is a very good reason he is not in the band full time, but it would be amazing if he was as Scott Stone allows the Melvins to take the dynamic even further, but then of course sometimes it is just great to hammer out some three piece rock. Still, in the surprise rocker finale David Scott Stone and the Melvins prove that rock is even better if you whack a whole bunch of noise on the top.
Alive At The F*cker Club - (1998)
Good luck finding this CD for less than $50. You can get it through iTunes though, and it's worth the fiver they charge. Whilst it's not the greatest recording, bloody hell can these guys play a mean set, the most impressive part of which being their rendition of 'Mombius Hibatchi' from 'Honky'.
Logic tells you that if people are playing really big instruments and low down guitars in complex rhythms, they're not going to be able to play fast. Yet the Melvins have totally destroyed that logic - this is not a sound you would immediately think of humans being able to create. Boy, I'm looking forward to seeing them in December.
The Maggot - (1999)
Here we go, on a great big magical journey. For starters - on 'The Maggot', the Melvins effortlessly prove that they can write very good heavy music in any vain they want. They've done that, been there, It's easy for them but also a lot of fun.
There's a very strange exploration of symmetry and repetition in musical structure here. I could go on for ages delving in to my own ideas behind the track listing, but there is a good chance I'm wrong, and a bigger chance you're not interested, but its things like the fact that all the songs on this album are split into two tracks (so it goes into the next track roughly half way through the song, for some reason) that at least get you thinking about how an album is structured. Much like how a lot of the ideas are hidden in blockbuster films, a lot of the structuring ideas are hidden in pop albums, and not just pop albums, most albums, and its this that encourages a sort of transient voyeurism to music. The Melvins with their consistent efforts to draw attention to the way they have structured the album have revealed an entire art form negligently overlooked by the majority of musicians, much like the way Lars Von Trier's 'Dogville' revealed the beautiful art form of creative lighting into big box office films - it's always been there, but at least now there are no secrets.
'See How Pretty, See How Smart' is another one of the best Melvins songs, and whilst many of their highlights can have long slow build ups, this is the one where they really maintain a peak. There isn't another song form this Earth that maintains this sort of unworldly power. Once again, power and enormity aren't macho things here - the universe isn't macho. It's cosmic, man.
The Bootlicker - (1999)
Q: you've proved that you can write probably the best metal music in the world, now what do you do?
A: Do an album without any distortion on it whatsoever.
This is some of the cleverest, most stripped back music I've ever heard, the way it creeps along with all the notes and beats layed out in a relaxed and knowing stream of beauty is something to behold. By the end of it, you're lost in this weird forest of sinister murk, with all these weird little features and strange arrangements abounding. I played this album to someone once who subsequently told me that I wasn't allowed to listen to music this clever because I was meant to listen to metal. But that just isn't true, folks - everyone can listen to this music as the Melvins are here for us all. It's astounding how many people are put off by the Melvins because they've made a lot of heavy music, but whether they're heavy or not doesn't really seem to be the point, as this album proves. This doesn't sound like a novelty album, as all the elements on it have been there since 'Gluey Porch Treatments'. They're just very good song writers with a penchant for a nice bit of distorted guitar. Why would you hold that against them?
The Crybaby - (2000)
I cannot believe the amount of bad press this album has had. I mean, I know there are a lot of idiots in the world, but you would think they'd know something this good when they hear it, I mean, come on, it's got a drum battle in it!
This isn't a bloody novelty album, OK? It's not a joke, the songs are just diverse, and if the Melvins want to do a song with Hank Williams on lap steel, they're not doing it for laughs, they're doing it because - we've been through this - they're brilliant. Everything on 'The Crybaby' (a collaborations effort) is of this standard, a very varied bag of sonic gems.
A lot of collaboration albums merely revolve around gimmicks and have no decent structure or cohesion, and although these tracks are impressively diverse, it works as an album surprisingly well. It's like a bizarre journey through weird alien lands. 'The Crybaby' is made by everyone on it, and in a way exceeds even the Melvins themselves. Possibly the only reason I can't call this the best Melvins album is that there isn't all that much of the Melvins on it, and it would feel very weird saying your favourite Melvins album is record without Buzz singing on it. However, only the Melvins would be behind a project this genuinely diverse. They've recognised there are things they want to do that they can't do on their own, and have done the decent, egoless thing of enlisting the people that can.
If the Trilogy just covered counted as one album it would be the best, but most understandably think of it as three. Many people have theorised about what the 'Trilogy' means, and some people may think it's pretentious, but I'm obviously of the opinion that if the Melvins have an idea that they think is going to be fun, they should certainly do it.
Colossus of Destiny - (2001)
This is a recording of a gig they played in1998, and the first thing they have done involving Tool's guitarist Adam Jones. It's another album that has been slated and poorly received by critics and fans. Once again... they're wrong! It's actually quite a responsibility the amount of things I've had to put right in these summaries, but when you have the sense to see that the Melvins are just amazing on your side it's not difficult.
I'm not saying you're going to want to put this album on in your car with the roof down in the summer and drive out into the country pounding your fist in the air shouting 'Whoo! This is the summer of Colossus of Destiny!' I'm aware that a lot of the people that buy this album won't be prepared for it, but my advice to those people is listen to it, think about it, give it a week then come back to it. Something that people seldom realise with difficult albums is that no ones going to make you listen to it like it's a pop album, and just because you don't listen to it as much doesn't mean your going to like it any less. There are albums that are good because you can just put them on any time and you'll just think it's great fun, and then there're albums that you might only put on once a year, but that perhaps will be one of the more intense memorable experiences of your annum. To those people that think that anything that doesn't have a recognisable time signature is all just noise and is essentially the same, this is not just an album of any old noise, this is very definately a Melvins album, which still has that hard sound like a brick size piece of cheese being thrown at a wooden fence, it still has that long thick drone like a big old bomber plane, but most importantly of all it sounds like no other band.
Electroretard - (2002)
Not that you're interested, but this EP / mini-album has a very sizeable place in my heart as it was the first I ever got, and even by this first taste I had already realised they were one of the best bands in the world. I think I had even decided that I was going to buy every album they ever wrote just on the merit of this EP.
Now, don't you just hate it when bands release records that don't feature any new material and they're instead just rehashes of old songs and covers? Admittedly when said like that it sounds like a terrible idea, but this is one of the best Melvins releases you could get. The covers are some of the most inspiring heartfelt renditions of some already brilliant old songs, and not many bands are brave or clever enough to see the point in doing very faithful renditions of some of their favourite songs.
The reworkings aren't just there for reusing some old songs as a money spinner. They've torn these songs to pieces and rebuilt them, creating one of the weirdest sounds you'll ever hear, having as much in common with The Residents as any metal band. If only they could write more music like this.
But that's the most difficult and exciting thing about being a Melvins fan - don't expect anything. It's ultimately much better that they do what they want, and of course one of things that would make it hard for them to make music like this is that it is largely a studio album, a technique not common to them. The Melvins have explored the freedom of doing such an overtly studio album by having amongst other things as many layered tracks as they like, which all adds up to piled pieces of electro-impairment. Don't dismiss this as a novelty - you'll not hear anything like it anywhere else.
Hostile Ambient Takeover - (2002)
Another candidate for their best album, and more David Scott Stone - hooray! This time the band were produced by someone called 'Toshi Kasi', and though some fans didn't like the way it ended up sounding, it's a bizarre and incredible thing that they've managed to make Dale Crovers massive kit sound like a toy drumkit, but ultimately when you swill this sound around in your ears you'll find a remarkable depth to it.
This is a very complete and near perfect album on which the Melvins subtlety and sophistication is at its height. 'Anti Vermin Seed' sees some of Buzz's best lyrics, though sadly often it's easy to forget that Buzz is a very good lyricist when he wants to be, though his words are often indecipherable, and never in the inlay cover. But this song and also notably 'Skin Horse' from 'Stag' have a sort of wisdom that would make most singers merely sound very arrogant. If any album is the one to get if you've never heard the Melvins, I would say this is it. It might not be as fun as 'Stag' or as instantly gratifying as 'Stoner Witch', but it's otherwise perfect. There isn't a note wrong, which means you can put it on and enjoy it without concentrating, or you can sit staring at the stereo as I have many times marvelling at the flawless detail of the tracks.
Pigs of the Roman Empire - (2004)
So why include this and not the Biafra stuff? Well, because this actually sounds like the Melvins. The stuff they've done with Jello Biafra, be it good or bad (it's largely bad), just doesn't sound like the Melvins. To start with this is called the Melvins 'and' Lustmord, where as the collaborations with Jello Biafra, are under the name Jello Biafra 'and' the Melvins. Also, a lot of the material on this album (namely most of the 22 minute track 'Pigs of the Roman Empire') is condensed versions of the Cameron Jamie soundtracks.
Although this is definitely a true Melvins album, this is just something completely different again, collaborating with Lustmord who has most notably worked with Throbbing gristle but also both Adam Jones and David Scott Stone are all over this album contributing loads of noise and sound manipulation. Unfortunately, the band had to cancel their England dates when touring for this album due to illness, so we haven't had them over here doing a full length album tour since 2002, so December should be a good month for Melvins fans in England.
Artists in this article: The Melvins,