Houdini (album)

Houdini
Studio album by
Melvins
ReleasedSeptember 21, 1993 (1993-09-21)
Recorded1992–1993
Genre
Length54:44
LabelAtlantic
Producer
Melvins chronology
Lysol
(1992) 		Houdini
(1993) 		Prick
(1994)
Singles from Houdini
  1. "Hooch"
    Released: 1993
  2. "Lizzy"
    Released: 1993
  3. "Honey Bucket"
    Released: 1993

Houdini is the fifth studio album by American rock band Melvins, released on September 21, 1993, by Atlantic Records. The album was the band's major label debut after releasing their previous albums through the independent label Boner Records.

The album features a cover of the 1974 Kiss song "Goin' Blind". The songs "Hooch", "Lizzy", and "Honey Bucket" were released as singles with accompanying music videos. "Night Goat" is a partial re-recording of a song the band had released as a single in 1992. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain is given co-production credit alongside the Melvins on six tracks, for guitar on the song "Sky Pup" and percussion on the song "Spread Eagle Beagle".

Background and recording

Melvins were signed, without a manager, to Atlantic Records by label president Danny Goldberg, at the enthusiastic suggestion of Kurt Cobain. Part of their deal ensured total creative control, with no label representatives allowed to enter the studio as the group recorded their work, and Atlantic were forbidden from sitting on or shelving their recordings if they were not satisfied with them. Houdini was the first of three albums they recorded for the company.[1]

Kurt Cobain was accepted by Melvins as a producer to the album after an A&R at Atlantic Records, who also ran Cobain's management company, suggested him.[2] Despite receiving a co-producer credit, the extent of Cobain's involvement in the album is questionable. Andrew Earles, who included Houdini on his book Gimmie Indie Rock (2014), stated that Cobain allegedly slept through most of the sessions.[3] Jonathan Burnside, a collaborator of Melvins and engineer on Houdini, remembered: "It's not easy reminiscing about making the album Houdini with Kurt Cobain and the Melvins. Bad communication, drugs, major label profiteering, rehab, schedule blowouts, backstabbing, and album miscrediting... it was a devil's album."[4] Speaking to Kerrang! in 2008, Melvins guitarist and vocalist Buzz Osborne, who later said in 2009 that Cobain was "in no shape to produce anything",[2] remembered:

"Houdini was the first album we did for Atlantic Records and certainly our biggest selling record, although not so much that I could put a down-payment on a new Rolls or something! It came on the whole tidal wave of Nirvana stuff and I'm sure if it weren't for that we wouldn't have had interest from a major at all. We wanted to do a record that wouldn't alienate our fans, but we wanted to do one that we would like. We also knew we weren’t gonna be dusting off a platinum album any time soon, you know? We did a bunch of sessions with Kurt Cobain [producing], but it got to the point where he was so out of control that we basically fired him and went our separate ways, which is unfortunate, because I think that would have been fun. Obviously that was a little snapshot of what would end up happening and I don't have a whole lot of fond memories of that – it was an absolute tragedy."[5]

Though the album's liner notes list Lorax as the band's bassist, she does not appear to have played on the album. On the credits for bass, Osborne stated: "This album is mostly just me and Dale Crover. Either I played bass or he did on almost all of it regardless of what the credits say…"[6]

The album's cover art features an illustration by graphic designer Frank Kozik.

Music and composition

Houdini features a sludge metal,[7][8] grunge,[9] and doom metal sound.[3] Spin critic Jonathan Gold described the record as "not precisely an accessible mainstream album in the 'alternative' mode, not with its random-sounding ten-minute percussion solo, mumbled, cut'n'paste Beef-heartian lyrics, and tempos so slow they make Flipper seem as speedy as Slayer."[10] Earles thought that the album showcases two different versions of Melvins: "a noticeably better variety of the slow, ungodly heavy, yet melodic off-kilter doom-metal with which the band had made its mark in previous years, and speedier fare, like a thick and weird sludge-thrash driven by catchy, inspired songwriting."[3] AllMusic's Patrick Kennedy regarded the album as a "full fruition" of the outfit's "syrupy distillation of Sabbath riffage and Flipper's noisy anti-punk" that was originally pried open on their Eggnog (1991) and Bullhead (1991) releases.[11]

"Pearl Bomb" features a ticking electronic beat,[12] with percussion that has been compared to a stuck typewriter,[13] while "Spread Eagle Beagle" is a "clanky percussion solo".[12] Consisting solely of percussion, the latter track has been described as a prank; it does not build to a climax, as per Cream's "Toad" (1966) or Led Zeppelin's "Moby Dick" (1969), but rather "clatters obstinately until the distances between the drum thwacks grow so long that it's almost as if you’re listening to a parody of CD-era albums whose bonus tracks come after a long silence."[13]

Release and critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[11]
Chicago Tribune[14]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal7/10[15]
Pitchfork7.7/10[13]
Spin[10]

Houdini is considered Melvins' commercially biggest release. It has sold 110,000 copies[16] and peaked at number 29 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart. The track "Honey Bucket" also received MTV airplay.[17]

AllMusic critic Patrick Kennedy wrote: "With their voluminous output and determination to continuously expand their sound regardless of musical trends, the Melvins oeuvre has begun to rival -- at least on paper -- the career arcs of Frank Zappa and Neil Young."[11] Jonathan Gold of Spin stated: "A few sections are recorded so hot that the guitar distortion literally breaks up into white noise in your speakers; other songs—the hits—are classic Melvins tuneage, which means that they will make you wonder if the batteries are going dead in your boom-box."[10] Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot thought that the album "asserts that a major-label deal hasn't watered them down a bit, though their king-size slam sounds clearer and punchier."[14]

Legacy

Treblezine named Houdini as one of the "10 Essential Sludge Metal Albums"[8] and "The 30 Best Grunge Albums".[18] Diffuser.fm rated it as number 10 on its list of "10 Best Grunge Albums".[9] The track "Hooch" is rated as one of the best songs of the decade by Pitchfork in the book The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present.[19]

Mastodon drummer Brann Dailor listed the album as an influence.[20]

In 2005, the album was performed live in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back series.[2] Subsequent performances of the album occurred over the next few years, such as their appearance at the Primavera Sound festival in 2007[21] and on the band's 25th Anniversary tour in 2009.[22] A specially recorded live performance of the album was released as A Live History of Gluttony and Lust in 2006.[23]

Largely out of print on vinyl since the 1990s, the album was reissued in 2016 through Third Man Records.[17]

Track listing

All songs written by the Melvins unless otherwise noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Hooch" 2:49
2."Night Goat" 4:41
3."Lizzy" 4:44
4."Goin' Blind" (Kiss cover)Gene Simmons, Stephen Coronel4:33
5."Honey Bucket" 3:01
6."Hag Me" 7:06
7."Set Me Straight"Buzz Osborne, Mike Dillard, Matt Lukin2:25
8."Sky Pup" 3:50
9."Joan of Arc" 3:36
10."Teet" 2:52
11."Copache" 2:07
12."Pearl Bomb" 2:46
13."Spread Eagle Beagle" (instrumental) 10:14
Total length:54:44

Vinyl copies include a cover of "Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)", originally by MC5, instead of "Spread Eagle Beagle". A Japanese CD release (catalog# AMCY-625) also contains "Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)" as the 14th track at the end of the disc, coming after "Spread Eagle Beagle".[24]

Personnel

Melvins

  • Buzz Osborne – guitar, vocals, bass, producer, mixing, engineer
  • Dale – drums, vocals, bass, producer, mixing, engineer
  • Lorax – bass (credited but did not perform)

Additional personnel

  • Bill Bartell – bass, lead guitar (4)
  • Billy Anderson – bass (6, 10); engineer (2–6, 8, 10–12), mixing (3–6, 10, 11)
  • Kurt Cobain – guitar (8), percussion (13); producer (1, 7–9, 12, 13), mixing (1, 7)
  • Al Smith – additional percussion (13)
  • Mike Supple – additional percussion (13)

Production

  • Jonathan Burnside – engineer (1, 2, 7–9, 12 and 13)
  • Tom Doty – second engineer (1, 7)
  • Garth Richardson – mixing (3–6, 9, 10, 13), producer (6, 10)
  • Joe Marquez – second engineer (3–6, 9, 10, 13)
  • Wolf Kessler – second engineer (6, 9, 10, 13)
  • Lou Oribin – engineer (8, 12)
  • Barrett Jones – engineer, mixing (11)
  • Don Lewis – band photo
  • Frank Kozik – art direction, illustration
  • Valerie Wagner – art direction, design
  • Stephen Marcussen – mastering

Charts

Chart (1993) Peak
position
US Billboard Heatseekers[17] 29

References

  1. ^ Earles, Andrew (January 8, 2013). "Blame Nirvana: The 40 Weirdest Post-'Nevermind' Major-Label Albums". Spin. p. 30. Archived from the original on January 11, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Ritter, travis (May 21, 2009). "No Happy Ending". The Stranger. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c Earles, Andrew (September 15, 2014). Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981-1996. Voyageur. pp. 191–193. ISBN 978-0760346488.
  4. ^ I Found My Friends: The Oral History of Nirvana. St. Martin's. 2015. ISBN 978-1466867215.
  5. ^ Kerrang! magazine, issue #1214, June 14, 2008. "Treasure Chest. An Intimate Portrait of a Life in Rock. King Buzzo". P.60
  6. ^ "PRIMER: Buzz Osborne Breaks Down 10 Crucial Melvins Records, Including Their Amp-Less Album and the One Kurt Cobain Ruined :: self-titled magazine". Self-titledmag.com. June 16, 2010. Archived from the original on October 3, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  7. ^ Slessor, Dan (June 16, 2020). "The 13 Most Essential Sludge Records". Kerrang!. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  8. ^ a b Terich, Jeff (September 15, 2016). "10 Best Sludge Metal Albums". Treblezine. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  9. ^ a b Robinson, Joe. "10 Best Grunge Albums". Diffuser.fm. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  10. ^ a b c Gold, Jonathan (November 1993). Marks, Craig (ed.). "Melvins: Houdini". Spin. SPIN Media LLC. p. 134.
  11. ^ a b c Kennedy, Patrick. "Melvins – Houdini". AllMusic. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  12. ^ a b Robbins, Ira. "Melvins". Trouser Press. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  13. ^ a b c Bromfield, Daniel (September 18, 2022). "Melvins: Houdini Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
  14. ^ a b Kot, Greg (October 28, 1993). "Melvins – Houdini". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on January 26, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  15. ^ Popoff, Martin (2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 270. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
  16. ^ "The Melvins finally crack the Billboard Top 200 after 26 years". The Washington Post. June 13, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  17. ^ a b c Adams, Gregory (June 14, 2016). "The Melvins '90s-Era Major Label Albums Get Reissue Treatment via Third Man". Exclaim!. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  18. ^ Green, Adam (October 6, 2016). "The 30 Best Grunge Albums". Treblezine. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  19. ^ Plagenhoef, Scott; Schreiber, Ryan, eds. (November 2008). The Pitchfork 500. Simon & Schuster. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-4165-6202-3.
  20. ^ Kerr, Dave (November 13, 2014). "Under the Influence: Mastodon's Brann Dailor". The Skinny. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  21. ^ Diver, Mike (May 30, 2007). "DiS at Primavera Sound: the preview". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on June 20, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  22. ^ Young, Alex (March 5, 2009). "Melvins to relive Houdini". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  23. ^ Prato, Greg. "Melvins - Houdini Live 2005: A Live History of Gluttony and Lust". AllMusic. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  24. ^ "Melvins – Houdini". Discogs. Retrieved June 28, 2021.

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