Mudhoney Articles
The Seattle Times
1 October '98
Northwest sounds: Mudhoney roars back
with a triumphant CD
Seattle hasn't been the center of the rock universe for some time now -
since Kurt Cobain died and Pearl Jam faded. What's emerged as the new
trend over the past few years - let's call it post-grunge - is
a return ot the Northwest's longtime traditions of love for rock's roots
and healty doses of wackiness.
It's fitting that the best album to come out of the Northwest since
Screaming Trees' brilliant "Dust" two years ago is Mudhoney's "Tomorrow
Hit Today" (Reprise). Like the Trees' disc - which made the
best-of-the-year lists of most major rock publications - Mudhoney's
triumph comes 10 years into the band's history, and is something of a
surprise.
The grungers who made "fuzzy sound" a virtue now have a much cleaner -
but thankfully not polished - sound, and a tightness in their playing
that belies their reputation for sloppiness
Best of all, the band's trademark sardonic humor and clever wordplay
have reached their greatest levels. "This feels like flying," Mark Arm
sings on the opening cut, "A Thousand Forms of Mind." The whole disc
feels that way - Mudhoney flying high, realizing its full potential.
It's 10 years of hard work paying off big time.
The homage to rock history comes in the Who, Stones and Sabbath riffs
that surface here and there, in the nice organ touches on several songs,
and most especially in lyrics inspired by classics, as in "This Is the
Life," which recasts Bo Diddley's "47 Miles of Barbed Wire" (from "Who
Do You Love?") into an even scarier prospect: "40 millions miles of strip
malls."
The surprising reference to Abba in "Oblivion," a song about aging
featuring a colorful cast of of characters, is sure to put a smile on
your face. Same with the goofy love song "Move With the Wind," in which
an age-old music question resurfaces: "What do you do with a drunken
sailor?"
Mudhoney is well known internationally as one of the pioneers of grunge,
and is probably more popular in Europe than it is here, but the band has
never lost its Northwest focus. Locals will recognise regional references
in several songs, including the title to the instrumental "I Will Fight
No More Forever," a quote from Chief Joseph. And an unlisted bonus track
takes a slap at Randy Tate, the former Washington congressman now busy
watching out for our morals as leader of the Christian Coalition.
Patrick MacDonald
Seattle Times staff critic
