Joe and the Rev

Reverend Horton Heat at the Rave

We saw Reverend Horton Heat back in ’93 in Madison at Club de Wash when they toured for this LP. I don’t remember that much about the show, but I do remember Jimbo hanging out at the bar by us either before or after the show — I think he was being very funny and very crass. We’ve seen the Rev several times since, including in ’96 when they also played with the Toadies; both bands opened for Butthole Surfers. (Gibby Haynes of the Buttholes produced Full Custom Gospel Sounds.)

They played a great set at the Rave: while the main focus of their show was their performance of the entirety of Liquor in the Front (1994), they did play songs from some of their other albums, including Full Custom Gospel Sounds.

Full Custom is, of course, rockabilly and psychobilly. The sort-of more mellow, rockabilly-leaning songs like “Beer:30” and “Bails of Cocaine” are great, witty and irreverent. But the wilder psychobilly songs are the best: “Big Little Baby” is a rollicking great time; that track was first released in ’88 as a 7″ on Four Dots Records (pre-Jimbo: “Swingin'” Jack Barton is on upright bass and Bobby Baranowski is on drums). The album opener “Wiggle Stick” is hilarious and, fittingly, was showcased on Beavis and Butthead (season 4 episode 3 “Trouble Urinating”). But my favorite is “400 Bucks” which I was able to catch on video Saturday night:

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Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge was Mudhoney’s second full-length album and is considered to one of the best of the grunge era/genre; it went to # 34 on the UK charts. Its success is also credited with helping to keep Sub Pop afloat at a time just before grunge hit the big-time.

The first LP in this deluxe edition is the reissue of the 1991 original, though remastered from the “low-quality tape via an 8-track desk” upon which it was originally recorded. My top tracks are “Let It Slide,” “Good Enough” (such a great beat!) and “Fuzzgun ‘91″ (another killer beat).

The second LP is a collection of unreleased tracks, EP and single-only releases, demos and selections that appeared on other comps. “March to Fuzz” is from 12 Drunkest Bands in Showbiz 7″ box set (Estrus Records). “Ounce of Deception” appeared on the Let It Slide EP (1991). “Paperback Life (alt. version)” and “Flowers for Industry,” were both previously unreleased to this point, as were five 24-track demos. Those demos were recorded in 1990 were supposed to be the start of their next album but “We decided we didn’t much care for it. It didn’t sound right to me, it sounded a little too fancy, too clean. It didn’t have the dirt.” (Steve Turner) “Fuzzbuster” appears on a couple of comps: Nardwaur the Human Serviette Presents…Clam Chowder and Ice vs. Big Macs & Bombers (1991) as well as March to Fuzz (2000). “Bushpusher Man” was also on March to Fuzz and also Puget Power III (1992). “Thorn (1st attempt)” and “You’re Gone” are from the “You’re Gone” single (1990). Most notable of the bunch is “Overblown” which appears on the Singles soundtrack (1992) and was the first exposure to Mudhoney for many many people.

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The track “Alien Boy” is about James Chasse, a Portland, Oregon man who suffered from mental illness and was a friend of Wipers frontman/guitarist Greg Sage (their conversations inspired much of the lyrical imagery on Is This Real?). Chasse (aka Jim Jim) was killed by two Portland police officers in 2006. Sage wrote in a 2007 website entry for Zeno Records about Chasse’s death at the hands of the Portland police: “The Sad Facts: Jim’s toxicology came back clean, no drugs – alcohol. All 17 of his ribs were broken. His lung was punctured. He suffered head trauma from being kicked while he was on the ground. He was not taken to a hospital, but to jail.  He died in the back of the squad car. Medical Examiner Reports: James Chasse was bludgeoned to death. Witnesses claim excessive force was used. It would seem that the police would have known that Jim Jim was disabled since he spent so much time on the streets. So far the PDX police claim that his death is Justified!” There was additional public outcry about the incident and after a few years and investigation, the officers were mostly exonerated but steps were taken for the police to change their training on dealing with their response to citizens with mental illness.

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Side A starts off with the always awesome Quadrajets playing “Fireball” (from When the World’s on Fire!) followed by the best-of-the-garage-punks Murder City Devils’ “I Want A Lot Now” (from Empty Bottles Broken Hearts). The next track is pretty good, Pulpit Red’s “Zero Nights” (from Lurk). “The Ballad of Rachel & Candi” by Three Years Down (previously unreleased) is just OK and while I generally like Black Halos (I’m pretty sure we saw them open for Murder City Devils in ‘99 at a show in Madison), I’m not crazy about “For You” (from The Black Halos). American Heartbreak’s “White Girl” (from Postcards From Hell) is hard-rocking emopunk played by ex-members of Bay City Rollers, Jet Boy and Exodus followed by a punked-up rockabilly goes girl-group track by Graveyard School, “Life’s Crazy” (previously unreleased).

Side B starts off with the heavily Stooges/MC5 influenced “Mr. White” by Lovemasters (from Pusherman of Love). Next up is Spitfires’ “Something For Nothing” (unreleased) which is very Murder City Devilish and excellent followed by hardcore punk-speed DGeneration’s “Prohibition” (also previously unreleased). Then comes one of my all-time favorite songs of the 90′s by Canada’s Tricky Woo “Fly the Orient”  (from Sometimes I Cry). We literally had to go to Canada to find that CD by those guys back in the early 2000′s (not sure if vinyl was ever available). I’m not familiar with the next two bands on the comp, High School Sweethearts (crunchy and melodic girl punk) with “She’s Something” (from Passing Notes) and Stilleto Boys’ “Rockets & Bombs” (Rockets & Bombs) which is snotty punk à la The Ramones. Concluding the comp are Texas punks The Reds on “Zero” (from the 7″ single) and Canada’s Von Zippers’ “Bad Generation” (Bad Generation).

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Spin’s review of Digital Garbage says, “Rock bands who express left-leaning politics in their songs are often described as preaching to the converted. But [Mark] Arm writes like he’s condescending to the opposition, as if he’d want nothing more than to sing these antagonistic lyrics directly to the “evangelical hypocrites” who’d be most offended by them. While many of these lyrics could have been written in Mudhoney’s early years, when Reagan and Bush Sr. were in office and televangelists like Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart were exposed as frauds, Arm’s anger sounds renewed now by presidency of Donald Trump, whom white evangelicals have stood by like no other demographic…If the lyrics are getting all the attention on Digital Garbage, it’s only because the music is exactly what you’d expect. Mudhoney’s sound hasn’t changed much since the early ‘90s, when they broadened their palette of scuzzy Stooges homages with Arm’s whirring garage rock organ, which livens up “Kill Yourself Live,” and guitarist Steve Turner’s harmonica, which makes an appearance on “Next Mass Extinction.” The band’s talent and chemistry is well preserved, with drummer Dan Peters’s incredible sense of swing and Turner’s bluesy solos both on display to great effect on “Messiah’s Lament.” There just isn’t much in the way of surprises, save for the slow, spacey “Night and Fog,” which rides a menacing groove laid down by bassist Guy Maddison, who joined the band in 2001 when founding member Matt Lukin retired from music (he’s reportedly now working as a carpenter).”

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I’ve written about seeing Murder City Devils at O’Cayz Corral in Madison, WI back in ‘99 (and still consider it one of the best shows I’ve ever seen) and will quote myself here: It was probably about 98 degrees that night and inside O’Cayz it had to have been topping 120 degrees. The Murder City Devils played with the Black Halos, I don’t remember who opened for who. I do remember sweat pouring, a sea of people in the small club (likely over-capacity) and fighting for a place to stand. I cannot put into words the massive energy of the show or the blistering sound and heat.”

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“Rock the Nation” is dirty thrash-pop, late 60′s/early 70′s inspired garage punk in the vein of The Stooges and MC5. “Why Don’t We Do It In the Road?” is a sludgy, grungy, guitar-screamy cover of the Beatles classic from the White Album. It’s definitely not an improvement on the original, but is a good interpretation and representation of the alternative rock/grunge sound of the early 90′s.

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We saw Reverend Horton Heat 25 years ago in 1993 at the now burned-down Club de Wash in Madison, WI. Songs from Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em were definitely in the set list as were selections from the ‘93 release The Full Custom Gospel Sounds (I can’t tell you which ones – it was 25 years ago!) (I do remember hanging out at the bar with Jimbo before the show and him being completely obnoxious but not much else from that show.)

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