16 October 2013 (Day 289) – What’s My Favourite Mudhoney Album Ever

Today I write about one of my favourite groups, the finest band ever to come out of Seattle, Mudhoney.  They were the very first grunge act that I ever saw when they toured Australia in February  1990.  BJ and myself had heard some tracks from the initial releases and, on the basis of that alone went to see them.  We were absolutely blown away by their full frontal attack and the collection of brilliant tracks they’d already accumulated. 

Obtaining copies of their releases was an extremely difficult task and later that year I was provided with a graphic illustration of just how hard it must have been for the band to get traction even in their own country.  In September that year, I spent a few days in New York City, determined to see as many sights as I could whilst filling a shopping list of albums we’d compiled of albums we thought could be obtained more easily over there including SuperFuzzBig Muff and their self-titled album.  Over the space of one day in which I walked from the Booklyn Bridge up Manhattan Island back to hostel just a few blocks short of Harlem and the Apollo Theatre at around 110^th Street.  (That is more than 110 blocks.)  I stopped at every record shop along the way, filling the list as I went; the one act whose albums I could not find were Mudhoney’s.  Eventually, I found a cassette copy of the self titled debut album just short of my hostel; in many of the shops I visited the store clerks didn’t even know of the band.

And that, I suspect, is basically how the situation is today.  Mudhoney have never had a hit, nor have their albums, at least here, sold in any great numbers.  Even a stint with the major labels did nothing to change this.  Yet, they are many fans favourite grunge act, a situation no doubt due to their hard worn status as a live act.  If you’re in any doubt, check out the live tracks on the Collector’s Edition of SuperFuzz Big Muff which gives a great example of the band at the time I first saw them (including their largely unacknowledged sense of humour)  or, even better, find a copy of the DVD Live At El Sol, a performance at a club in Spain around 8 years ago.

This is not to infer that their recordings aren’t very good.   Although there are a couple of albums that are simply average, the high points are absolutely brilliant and deserve your attention.  For starters, I recommend Under A Billion Stars which I played earlier in the year, but if you want to go back to the start:

(#670) Mudhoney – SuperFuzz BigMuff (1988)

Their debut release was this 6 track EP which has since been expanded twice.   Need is a great opener, taking a supremely melodic tune and wrapping in in fuzzed up guitars with Mark Arm’s typically snarly vocals on top.  Chain That Door is a typically locomotive piece which introduced the world to their buzz saw guitar sound and Mudride was the first of their dirge like slower numbers.  Whilst these tracks showed promised it was the remaining tracks that should have put the band over the top. No One Has is cut from the same cloth as Chain That Door but sustains it for a longer period and towards a more logical conclusion and If I Think was a great stop/start, slow/fast/slow number of the type Nirvana were to master.  But the killer track, and first Mudhoney classic, is the awesome In ‘n’ Out Of Grace.  Starting off with a snippet of dialogue from, I think Rebel Without A Cause, the band explodes into a raging tune that raises and falls in intensity into a simmering drum break explodes a second time into a series of deranged guitar solos piled on top of each other and a gradual slowing to a stop end.  It’s mightily impressive stuff.  It’s since been expanded to a single CD which inludes early singles including the infectious Touch Me I’m Sick and Sweet Young Thing Ain’t Sweet No More and covers of The Dicks Hate The Police and Sonic Youth’s Halloween.  The 2 disc Collector’s Edition contains these tracks as well as the aforesaid live material and demo tracks.

(# 671) Mudhoney – Mudhoney (1989)

Their full length debut is home to some of the best loved songs in the Mudhoney arsenal including the relentless Here Comes Sickness, the inanity of Flat Out Fxxked, Magnolia Caboose Babyshit an adaption of a Blue Cheer track, the relatively sparse sounding You Got It aand the largely acoustic When Tomorrow Hits.  Running Loaded and the opening cut This Gift provided more examples of their slow/fast/slow expertise.  Dead Love incorporates some neat psychedelic touches in attempting to outdo In ‘n’ Out Of Grace.

(# 672) Mudhoney – Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (1991)

The instrumental Generation Genocide kicks things off by incorporating a garagey sounding keyboard that provides the perfect intro to the raging Let It Slide which follows.  The remainder of the album provides a great deal of variety that is brilliantly sequenced.  Good Enough sounds like a country track without any country instrumentation at all, Thorn, Into The Clink and Shoot The Moon all ape Let It Slide, the keyboards return to propel  Who You Drivin’ Now?, Move Out deftly incorporates acoustic guitar and harmonica into their sound, Fuzzgun ’91 is a fun attempt at a surf instrumental and Pokin’ Around sounds like Dinasaur Jr with Neil Young on harmonica.  The slower Check Out Time ends the album on a wholly appropriate note with the keyboards again to the fore.

(# 673) Mudhoney – Since We Became Translucent (2002)

On this album Mudhoney tried the same trick as they did on Fudge by introducing another instrument to the fix, this time utilising horns.  These meshed brilliantly with the keyboards on the 8 minute opener Baby Can You Dig The Light, a track that would not sound out of place on The Stooges Fun House or The MC5s’ High Times.    Where The Flavor Is employs horns in a manner not too dissimilar to the early recordings of The Saints or Hunters And Collectors.  Take It Like A Man employs a vague honky tonk keyboard with some inspired horns whilst the theme of Sonic Infusion should be readily apparent by now.