I don’t care what anyone else says. The Screaming Trees were one of “The Big Four” of grunge. Call it the Big Five if you have to. Knock out those pussies in Pearl jam if you have to. I really don’t care. But they belong. They were there from the start. Cranked out SEVEN consistently good grunge albums staring all the way back in 1986. The first to sign to SST - THE American indie label back then YEARS before anyone had even heard of Sub Pop. They looked like lumberjacks before anyone else did. They sounded like lumberjacks before anyone else did. And most importantly, they concocted their very own mutated strain of hard rock mixed with psychedelia that could only have been coined grunge in retrospect. I mean nothing else quite fits. Mudhoney, Soundgarden and The Screaming Trees were the three bands that literally defined what was possible for the grunge sound back in the late 80s. Back when Kurdt was nothing more than the biggest fanboy of King Buzzo (All hail his lordship!). And this - Uncle Anesthesia- is arguably The Screaming Trees best. I mean it’s really hard to decide. They were that consistent. But this one definitely rocks the hardest of any of their major label offerings. I have no idea why this album languishes at the bottom of the BEA charts. Why no one but the wise & all knowing Dihansse even mentioned it on any of their best of 1991 lists. But, I can assure you of this - It Belongs.
Grade: A+ ESSENTIAL. Easily one of the best grunge albums of 1991. It should be mentioned in same hallowed breath as Badmotorfinger,Nevermind, and Mudhoney’s Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (whose review will be forthcoming). For whatever reason, the marketing boys at Epic records really dropped the ball on this baby. Because it should have been huge. But who cares about marketing? Fuck those guys. Anyone looking for one of the best grunge albums of all time, simply needs to drop the needle on this massive platter of tripped out fuzz. It’s grunge rock _________.
A-side: I’ve always wondered if the production on this held the album back somewhat. Anyone more versed on the production side of things please comment. I'd love to get your opinion. Enquiring minds want to know. Because these songs are amazing! But I do think the production maybe a bit on the murky side. But perhaps that’s its charm. 🤔 I ask - You Decide!
I don’t care what anyone else says. The Screaming Trees were one of “The Big Four” of grunge. Call it the Big Five if you have to. Knock out those pussies in Pearl jam if you have to. I really don’t care. But they belong. They were there from the start. Cranked out SEVEN consistently good grunge albums staring all the way back in 1986. The first to sign to SST - THE American indie label back then YEARS before anyone had even heard of Sub Pop. They looked like lumberjacks before anyone else did. They sounded like lumberjacks before anyone else did. And most importantly, they concocted their very own mutated strain of hard rock mixed with psychedelia that could only have been coined grunge in retrospect. I mean nothing else quite fits. Mudhoney, Soundgarden and The Screaming Trees were the three bands that literally defined what was possible for the grunge sound back in the late 80s. Back when Kurdt was nothing more than the biggest fanboy of Buzz Osborne. And this - Uncle Anesthesia- is arguably The Screaming Trees best. I mean it’s really hard to decide. They were that consistent. But this one definitely rocks harder than any of their other major label albums. I have no idea why this album languishes at the bottom of the BEA charts. Why no one but the wise & all knowledgeable Dihansse even mentioned it on any of their best of 1991 lists. But, I can assure you of this - It Belongs.
Grade: A+ ESSENTIAL. Easily one of the best grunge albums of 1991. It should be mentioned in same hallowed breath as Badmotorfinger,Nevermind, and Mudhoney’s Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (whose review will be forthcoming). For whatever reason, the marketing boys at Epic records really dropped the ball on this baby. Because it should have been huge. But who cares about marketing? Fuck those guys. Anyone looking for one of the best grunge albums all time, simply needs to drop the needle on this massive platter of tripped out fuzz. It’s grunge rock _________.
A-side: I’ve always wondered if the production on this held the album back somehow. Anyone more versed on the production side of things please comment. I'd love to get your opinion. Enquiring minds want to know. Because these songs are amazing! But I do think the production maybe a bit on the murky side. But perhaps that’s its charm. 🤔 I ask - You Decide!
It belongs: amen!!!
But Screaming Trees are one of these typical examples which makes me doubt if the term grunge has any meaning. In 1986 nobody talked about grunge and it's only because Nirvana made an album with such an impact (and rightly so) that the grunge label was invented to label every band who came after with the same label.
My theory is that if people would have called it indie much more credit would have been given to the bands which came before Nirvana (which Kurt Cobain tried to stress in nearly every interview he gave but to no avail) like Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, Husker Du (just because they were not from Seattle doesn't mean they can't be included), The Vaselines (cf their MTV unplugged), etc. (I'm not a big fan of Soundgarden but that's my personal opinion).
But no: the music industry needed something new so a whole new movement was created after Nirvana of which at least half or were no real grunge (Pearl Jam is just a good rock band, see their work with Neil Young) or were rubbish. So it's a pity that all those early bands remained under the radar including this Screaming Trees album which was issued maybe a few months too early to really jump on the train of Nevermind. In fact only the Pixies (and maybe but they're not really comparable: R.E.M.) were able to do this (again and rightly so).
It's also peculiar that even when Mark Lanegan began to have a bit of success solo and with this cooperations with other artists that people did not really were tempted to go back to his past in the Screaming Trees.
But this is maybe more for that other thread Grunge against Britpop 😉
But Screaming Trees are one of these typical examples which makes me doubt if the term grunge has any meaning. In 1986 nobody talked about grunge and it's only because Nirvana made an album with such an impact (and rightly so) that the grunge label was invented to label every band who came after with the same label.
My theory is that if people would have called it indie much more credit would have been given to the bands which came before Nirvana (which Kurt Cobain tried to stress in nearly every interview he gave but to no avail) like Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, Husker Du (just because they were not from Seattle doesn't mean they can't be included), The Vaselines (cf their MTV unplugged), etc. (I'm not a big fan of Soundgarden but that's my personal opinion).
But no: the music industry needed something new so a whole new movement was created after Nirvana of which at least half or were no real grunge (Pearl Jam is just a good rock band, see their work with Neil Young) or were rubbish. So it's a pity that all those early bands remained under the radar including this Screaming Trees album which was issued maybe a few months too early to really jump on the train of Nevermind. In fact only the Pixies (and maybe but they're not really comparable: R.E.M.) were able to do this (again and rightly so).
It's also peculiar that even when Mark Lanegan began to have a bit of success solo and with this cooperations with other artists that people did not really were tempted to go back to his past in the Screaming Trees.
But this is maybe more for that other thread Grunge against Britpop :wink:
Yeah. Most of the best grunge albums came out before Nevermind! In retrospect, Nevermind was the beginning of the end. 🤣
Hitchcock vies for the Alt Rock mainstream with his most acessiblle record yet and … just misses. This is a good/great (solid B ) album that won’t disappoint but misses the eccentric oddball charms that makes Hitchcock ... well, Robyn Hitcock. That dose of madness that makes so many of his albums (like Globe of Frogs) Great/Essential. If there's no one else like you, don't try to be like anyone else! Recommended regardless. Solid Indie pop nuggets that really only the likes that my boy Robyn can deliver. Grade: B
Hitchcock vies for the Alt Rock mainstream with his most acessiblle record yet and … just misses. This is a good/great (solid B ) album that won’t disappoint but misses the eccentric oddball charms that makes Hitchcock ... well, Robyn Hitcock. That dose of madness that makes so many of his albums (like Globe of Frogs) Great/Essential. If there's no one else like you, don't try to be like anyone else! Recommended regardless. Solid Indie pop nuggets that really only the likes that my boy Robyn can deliver. Grade: B
Robyn Hitchcock's career begins and ends with The Soft Boys for me. 😁
Took me a while appreciate both albums though. And Perspex Island is definitely solid & recommended. Just not worthy of the Top 20 status that Spin Magazine gave it back in 1991. But it's will definitely be in my year chart!
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
I’ve only ever heard I Often Dream Of Trains, and some Soft Boys stuff. All really great from what I recall. I’ll have to check out more Hitchcock. I hear Rope and The 39 Steps are great as well. _________________ -Ryan
I’ve only ever heard I Often Dream Of Trains, and some Soft Boys stuff. All really great from what I recall. I’ll have to check out more Hitchcock. I hear Rope and The 39 Steps are great as well.
lol. You actually got me on this for like a full minute until the light bulb went off. I was like "Hmmm... I don't know those albums" & then once the light bulb went off ... "Damn it, Ryan. 🙄 "
I’m just telling you what I remember. It’s not much. Mostly a blur. A memory of a memory. Faded and bleached. By the years. By the drugs too, I guess. But mostly by the years.
It was 1991. I was young. Headed off to Manhattan to conquer the world. I was already a music junkie by them. Hell. I had been for years. I headed to CBGBs as I did pretty much every night. Picked up a 40 oz of Olde English (my favorite back then) at one of those no-named Asian convenience stores that dotted the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I’m sure they’re probably all gone now. You’d always pop in there before going out to pick up a forty. They’d put it a paper bag for you so you could drink while taking the subway or even just walking the streets. Great way to get a buzz for like two dollars in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
Anyways, this particular night stood out…
Remember moshing? Well I was a professional. I could just give my body over to the pit. That was the secret. Become this rag doll. It’s not like I was afraid to push back or anything. I was pretty built back then. But that wasn’t the point. The point was to relax and just let go. Become this happy bouncing electron careening about. Driven by forces outside of you and in you. That’s where the high came from. You see people forget. Moshing brought you closer to the music. It was the ultimate surrender. The music would come off the stage and just take over you. And the crowd. The best thing was just to let go. And smile.
And Swervedriver concocted some of the best music I’ve ever moshed to. The guitars would seemingly ping-pong back & forth and ricochet every which way. Pushing the crowd this way and that. Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge, the guitarists, were like the greatest marionettes ever.
As I said, the memory’s mostly gone. But, what was clear was that Swervedriver ROCKED that night. But, let’s be fair. Almost all the shoegaze bands back then rocked pretty hard. Ride. Lush. MBV. They all kicked serious ass in concert. (Well except for Slowdive. They decidedly did NOT rock. But, they were great in their own way) No. What made Swervedriver different, what made them stand out, was their ginormous debt to the American indie scene. They were easily the most American of all they peers. Sure. My Bloody Valentine’s Isn’t Anyting may have been the most important album in their record collection. But sitting right next to it - in plain sight - was Dinosaur Jr.’s Your Living All Over Me.
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Ok. Here it goes. Laugh if you must. But due to Adam Franklin’s laid back vocals and dreads, I always thought of Swervedriver as “that shoegaze band fronted by that reggae dude”. He was like some kind of California surf rat. It always sounds like he had just took a long drag on some spliff. Eternally stoned. And THAT was their secret ingredient. Swervedriver were like the ultimate speedball. Heroin + cocaine. Franklin’s lysergic vocals buried underneath all those swirling, driving guitars. It was like every single receptor of my cortex was being fed with something. Gaba. Beta. Alpha. Lol. Clearly it was like the best Greek party ever going on in my brain. Every single receptor being landed on & triggered at once resulting in the quintessential high.
To be honest, I loved this album so much, I had the hardest time getting into Mescal Head when it came out. It just seemed like Raise Lite. I still prefer Raise today.
From what I remember.
Grade: A+. Essential. LittleM nailed it. It’s the perfect mix of shoe gaze and grunge. I never thought of it that way. To me it was just shoegaze. Shoegaze fronted by that reggae dude. lol. It’s only now in retrospect that I realize how much of the American Underground those cats were taking in. And sure. My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless is the best shoe gaze album of 1991. I’ll give you that. But this is number two.
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Purplepashranker, rater, & music list makerProfile Western Australia
Awesome write up on Raise. 👏 An underrated (or just often forgotten?) album that for a long time was in my all time 100. And I agree it's better than Mezcal Head, which I could never get into as much. Is that because we heard Raise first and at the time? As well as Dinosaur Jr. I always thought Sonic Youth must have been an influence on them. Loved your description of moshing by the way. As an explanation of why it was so much fun you nailed it.
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