 |  | 5+ Stars...The Greatest Grunge Album--EVER |  |
...and, if you are into grunge and don't have this CD, you're collection is incomplete. Not having this CD is like being a classic rock freak and not having Led Zeppelin IV, seriously.
This CD was released in '91, when grunge was just starting to hit the radio. The Seattle scene was going strong, with Soundgarden, Nirvana and Alice in Chains already putting out albums and having very strong followings. The craziest thing? I saw all of these bands in the early-early 90's, and I can't tell you how many band members were wearing Mudhoney shirts...all of the Seattle bands knew Mudhoney, did side projects with them, and respected them.
To date, I have all their releases up to and including My Brother The Cow (1995). I can't speak for any of the newer releases, because I haven't heard them, but I will say everything from 88-95 is incredible, with Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge being at the pinnacle of their musical genius. (For those of you who don't read music, the phrase 'Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge' is the way you remember the treble clef bars: E,G,B,D, and F.)
The biggest difference between this release and their others is simple. The music is good, all of it, but this CD doesn't reveal a weak track. Every song is awesome, and the production is great--garage sound, lo-fi muffled guitars, but the drums and bass are clean. When Steve or Mark switch to the acoustic sound, it becomes clean. They mastered the "garage" sound without sounding like your next door neighbor's garage band. Even the order of the tracks is superb. I could go on and on--this is a great CD, no matter what the price. I've owned this since it's release, and I may be ready to buy another copy--I've warped this CD like it was an LP, it sat in the CD player for so long. TRUST ME--this will be your favorite CD as soon as you hear it...I promise.
October 13, 2005...only nine people have reviewed this album (actually, more like 8 - this Rubard fella's review is pretty obviously designed to be ignored). I also can't believe the people lining up to cry in this band's beer for them. I really doubt they're that broken up about how things turned out. It is also ridiculous to say that they could have "made it" if their sound had been more polished...polish is exactly what stole the magic away, starting with Piece of Cake: their last listenable album and a mere shadow of this fine, fine record.
I'm not going to blather on with some kind of social commentary about Seattle, and how sad it is that it's all over, and how music has gone to hell since then. Just suffice it to say that this album (or, arguably, the self-titled "Mudhoney") is what should be listed in the dictionary under "Grunge." I would hesitate to apply that term to Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, or even Nirvana, frankly. Those bands all seem much closer to metal than the fuzzed-out essence of the garage. Mudhoney were basically the Troggs on crack, and this album broke it wide open.
One other reason I have such a special affinity for this particular Mudhoney release is that while it has all the whacked-out dirty humor of their earlier stuff, this one seems to add the tiniest emotional element...it has a little feeling, and provokes a little feeling. The two-song group of "Pokin' Around" (harmonica!) and "Don't Fade IV" for some reason always make me a little sad. Maybe sad because it means I'm almost to the end of this SEMINAL album.
Mudhoney didn't suck, and didn't fail. They did exactly what they were supposed to do: hand us their dirty little defnition of Rock & Roll. It's a definition I can agree with.
November 24, 2004| | | when mudhoney took there garage rock seriously... | |
if not one of the best probably actully the best album to come out of grunge town.it is way to bad that this album came out the same time as nevermind but it did.(ohhh welll).when i first saw the video for good enough (on 120 mins)it was an awesome sight.i looked for this album for weeks and listend to it for even longer when i got it.and it still sounds good today after all that hype of that scene has died down.this is great collection of songs when mudhoney took them selves very seriously.(not the last 2 albums (WOOFF).so this is there last album from there founding lable sub pop and its a shame at that.that lable cared about mudhoney.. so as far as the album its raw full of great riffage from steve turner(the eric claptin of garage rock) and madman drums from dan peters the bestrock drummer since keith moon.)and mark arms vocals are just amazing kind of sceaming wailing and talking all at the same time.the quality of the album is very much like listening to a garage band with massive talent.but thats what these guys were all about being one of the best garage bands of all time to bad they where thrown into that heap of music from grunge town.they were already doing just fine in the first place.so every track on this album is good so i cant tell ya the best.but what i can say this is to me a album that must be listened to VERY LOUD to be fully enjoyed !!!!! also if you decide like this one find the single that came out at the same time that features when the money rolls right in and a different version of cheakout time..then find marks and steves new band monkeywrench.which is a new band they are taking seriously again pure garage bluespunk rock!!!!!
November 5, 2001| | | Poor Mudhoney, Poor Mudhoney, Pour Mudhoney another drink... | |
Mudhoney was always talented. Mudhoney always wrote good records. Unfortunately for Mudhoney they lived in this indie-rock bull crap world where it was cool to be Lo-fi. So while Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice In Chains and Candlebox (who would have ever thought?) walked into studios and recorded great records that in turn sold MILLIONS of CD's, Mudhoney was content to stay in the garage and turn into Seattle's version of The Replacements. Mudhoney is a great band with zero business sense and the weight of all things indie-rock resting firmly on their drunken shoulders. They story gets better; they eventually made it to a major label and still made the same sounding garage band records (on none other than reprise records, the Replacements major label). Eventually trends end and a scene dies, history is written and I'm not sure if Mudhoney is happy being the footnote as the band that didn't become Pearl Jam. The biggest crime of it all is that Mudhoney wrote good songs that die under crappy production. So sad... it shouldn't have turned out this way.
June 17, 2001Taking their cue from Neil Young (even borrowing a few riffs) the boys from Mudhoney truly stomp the savoy with Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. Back in the days of grunge, everyone was wild about Nirvana and Soundgarden. Yes, some of your friends will claim that they also liked Mudhoney, and they were there when . . . But the truth is simple: Mudhoney embodies the spirit of Grunge. I was in the army during the early 1990's and I would help my roommates record music on a little 4 track. My friend Chad (almost sounds like a band name), the drummer, turned me on to Mudhoney with this album. At first I could only hear an hommage to Neil Young, but the more I listened to the album, the more I saw that Mudhoney was actually picking up where Neil Left off. Well, grunge has faded as a popular and in style music fad, but those of you who were wise enough to hide rock and roll for the lean times that always seem to come after a great time of music (where we are now with boy bands that have virtually become a parody of themselves) should get this album if you don't already own it. The reviewer after me besides being all too brief must not have had someone like my friend Chad to teach him about this collection of songs. Broken Hands shows up on every cd I burn for myself.
February 5, 2001More reviews at Amazon.com ...
(10 reviews)