I consider myself a very low-level fan of The Melvins: I have a few albums that I rarely play because I find them a bit too abrasive in a way I can't put my finger but doesn't do it for me (abrasive in itself isn't bad, but something about The Melvins doesn't make me often want to listen to them). On the other hand, I love seeing them live. What they have works brilliantly on stage - it cuts through the thing that makes me want to not listen to their records and I love it. I will tell anyone who'll listen how brilliant it was when they played ATP and rolled out two extra drummers (from Modest Mouse) for the last song, leaving four drummers on stage bashing away. We were all floored. (Side note: I'm a big fan of Big Business, so maybe it's just the rhythm section I enjoy.)
Jello Biafra, on the other hand, I've had very little to do with. My introduction to him was via Pitchshifter, who collaborated with him on a song for Deviant. I ended up seeing them play together at a strange festival in Bristol, which was Jello's first show in the UK with a band for a very long time. I knew he was from the Dead Kennedys and had heard California Über Alles on the Radio 1 Rock Show at least once. Many years later, I've never sought out any other Dead Kennedys songs.
The reason for that ambivalence towards a legendary punk band is that I really don't like Jello's voice at all. I hadn't had that realisation when I bought this collaboration on something of a whim (I was making myself buy an LP once a month from Damaged in Cardiff and this was the only thing that caught my eye that month). The first two minutes of this album started out ok - The Melvins covering an Alice Cooper song that I'm not familiar with. Then Jello starts singing and I lost interest. He's a very hard man to listen to. On top of that, a lot of the songs are kinda sprawling, which is hard work. I wonder if that's a function of Jello's many years of spoken word - he's used to rambling on at tangents. The irony of Jello singing about bands reuniting and playing songs from the "good old days" only to then offer a re-working of his old band most famous song seems lost. Voted Off the Island is terrible but thankfully short. The final remix is spread across two sides of a 7" (with a half-hearted fade-out between the two), which feels like a chore by that point.
It's not all bad: Lessons in What Not To Become is quite cool (musically) and there's a great break before the chorus. Despite what I just said, the reworking Kalifornia Über Alles 21st Century is alright too and it's nice to hear The Melvins smashing out a punk song. Dälek do a surprisingly good remix of Dawn of the Locusts (of which I've never heard the original) - I'm normally against rock remixes, but I'm a fan of Dälek, so maybe that's why I enjoy it.
When I bought the album I hadn't realised that it was a collection of odds and ends from the actual album they recorded together (of which I think heard good things). I should have noticed the word "remix" in small font on the back after three of the songs. Had I known, this might not be sat in my record collection, somewhat neglected; knowing the stock in Damaged, a Black Flag album would probably take its place.
Format: 12", 7", insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Damaged, Cardiff
When: 07/06/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
