ARTIST: Melvins
TITLE: Gluey Porch Treatments
YEAR RELEASED: 1987
CHART ACTION: None
SINGLES: None
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Hahahahaha, yeah right
LINEUP: Matt Lukin, Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: If not the spawning pool for grunge, at least one of the catalysts.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: “Eye Flys” opens up this, the first full length, and the true Melvins spirit is imbued in this track. A simple, slow, repetitive bass line, drums sound on the 2 and 4, and a feedback wall of guitar that builds up into an actual riff and then a song 4 ½ minutes in, and then vocals (slowly yawping at that), and it’s over less than two minutes after the song really kinda starts. It’s the Melvins, man. They don’t get anywhere and their not in a hurry.
There are a lot of tracks here. Many are short – under a minute even. Many are slow, a slowly building wall of noise but sometimes they have get up and go. Do they make sense? Can you understand them? Who cares?
This probably is the best thing to check out to wonder why they became such a beloved band in the grunge scene. It’s pretty scuzzy, and sometimes brilliant.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: They appropriated “Leeech” from Green River, since that band never played it.
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: Yes, so many bonus tracks from demos on the CD version.
GRADE: B+: By no means is it flawless – but the flaws are pretty much the reason to listen to it.