Grenadine

Elvis Costello & the Attractions, “New Amsterdam”

Costello was in the middle of his 10/10 run of albums (ignoring the covers record), with Get Happy!! being maybe the most distinctive of the lot. It’s not my favorite (that’s probably This Year’s Model followed by Imperial Bedroom), but the soul focus of the record means that it stands out a bit more from the rest of the group. Although Imperial Bedroom is also pretty distinctive, with the lush, orchestrated songs. I’m really not strengthening my point here. Anyway, good record.

Ministry, “Just One Fix”

Psalm 69 represents the last time Ministry was fun and not just a repetitive mess. “Jesus Built My Hotrod” is the highlight, but the album is chock full of similarly punishing industrial metal. I think the way to approach Ministry is to probably start with this album and then work your way backwards until it stops appealing, and just pretend that this is their last album.

Should I re-think the policy of putting in Bandcamp links instead of the Youtube videos? It occurs to me that maybe I should put in both? I dunno. Feel free to let me know down below or on Twitter. Or email, because frankly, anybody reading this probably has my email. Today’s tunes are here, by the way.

Mudhoney, “Inside Out Over You”

Mudhoney was grunge. Nirvana might have been the band that everybody knew, but it was Mudhoney that really laid down the template for the scene. Fuzzed out and beer soaked, they combined elements of punk, metal, and garage rock to form the sound that would come to define Seattle music in the early 90s, and indeed much of rock music. Not only that, but the extended Mudhoney family tree includes other huge Pacific Northwest bands - Mark Arm and Steve Turner were in Green River with Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam), and Matt Lukin was in the Melvins, to choose two examples.