American punk band formed 1979 in San Francisco, California.

• Melvins and Flipper have teamed up for a new collaborative four-song 10″ EP that will be out this Sunday (6/9) via Amphetamine Reptile. Created by core Melvins members Buzz Osborne and Dale.
• Looks like Buzz Osborne of the Melvins is a bigot. How does one play with Jello Biafra, cover Flipper and the Wipers and wind up being a far right dickhead?
• Hot Fish, an EP by Melvins / Flipper. Released 9 June 2019 on Amphetamine Reptile (catalog no. Genres: Noise Rock, Sludge Metal. Featured peformers: Haze XXL (cover art).
• Discover releases, reviews, credits, songs, and more about Melvins / Flipper - Hot Fish at Discogs. Complete your Melvins / Flipper collection.

Houdini is the fifth studio album by the Melvins, released in 1993 on Atlantic Records. The album was the band's major label debut after releasing their previous albums on the independent label Boner Records.

The album features a cover of the 1974 Kiss song 'Goin' Blind'. The songs 'Hooch', 'Lizzy' and 'Honey Bucket' were released as singles with accompanying music videos. 'Night Goat' is a partial re-recording of a song the band had released as a single in 1992. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain is given co-production credit alongside the Melvins on six tracks, for guitar on the song 'Sky Pup', and percussion on the song 'Spread Eagle Beagle'.

Background and recording[edit]

Kurt Cobain was accepted by Melvins as a producer to the album after an A&R at Atlantic Records, who also ran Cobain's management company, suggested him.^[1] Despite receiving a co-producer credit, the extent of Cobain's involvement in the album is questionable. Andrew Earles, who included Houdini on his book Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981-1996, stated that Cobain allegedly slept through most of the sessions.^[2] Jonathan Burnside, a collaborator of Melvins and engineer on Houdini remembered: 'It's not easy reminiscing about making the album Houdini with Kurt Cobain and the Melvins. Bad communication, drugs, major label profiteering, rehab, schedule blowouts, backstabbing, and album miscrediting... it was a devil's album.'^[3] Speaking to Kerrang! in 2008, Melvins guitarist and vocalist Buzz Osborne, who later said in 2009 that Cobain was 'in no shape to produce anything,'^[1] remembered:

'Houdini was the first album we did for Atlantic Records and certainly our biggest selling record, although not so much that I could put a down-payment on a new Rolls or something! It came on the whole tidal wave of Nirvana stuff and I'm sure if it weren't for that we wouldn't have had interest from a major at all. We wanted to do a record that wouldn't alienate our fans, but we wanted to do one that we would like. We also knew we weren’t gonna be dusting off a platinum album any time soon, you know? We did a bunch of sessions with Kurt Cobain [producing], but it got to the point where he was so out of control that we basically fired him and went our separate ways, which is unfortunate, because I think that would have been fun. Obviously that was a little snapshot of what would end up happening and I don't have a whole lot of fond memories of that – it was an absolute tragedy.'^[4]

Though the album's liner notes list Lorax as the band's bassist, she does not appear to have played on the album. On the credits for bass, Osborne stated:'This album is mostly just me and Dale Crover. Either I played bass or he did on almost all of it regardless of what the credits say…'^[5]

The album's cover art features an illustration by graphic designerFrank Kozik.

Music and composition[edit]

Houdini features a sludge metal,^[6]grunge^[7] and doom metal sound.^[2]Spin critic Jonathan Gold described the record as 'not precisely an accessible mainstream album in the 'alternative' mode, not with its random-sounding ten-minute percussion solo, mumbled, cut'n'paste Beef-heartian lyrics, and tempos so slow they make Flipper seem as speedy as Slayer.'^[8] Earles thought that the album showcases two different versions of Melvins: 'a noticeably better variety of the slow, ungodly heavy, yet melodic off-kilter doom-metal with which the band had made its mark in previous years, and speedier fare, like a thick and weird sludge-thrash driven by catchy, inspired songwriting.'^[2]AllMusic's Patrick Kennedy regarded the album as a 'full fruition' of the outfit's 'syrupy distillation of Sabbath riffage and Flipper's noisy anti-punk' that was originally pried open on Eggnog (1991) and Bullhead (1991) releases.^[9]

Release and critical reception[edit]

Houdini is considered as Melvins' commercially biggest release. It has sold 110,000 copies^[11] and peaked at number 29 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart. The track 'Honey Bucket' also received MTV airplay.^[12]

AllMusic critic Patrick Kennedy wrote: 'With their voluminous output and determination to continuously expand their sound regardless of musical trends, the Melvins oeuvre has begun to rival -- at least on paper -- the career arcs of Frank Zappa and Neil Young.'^[9] Jonathan Gold of Spin stated: 'A few sections are recorded so hot that the guitar distortion literally breaks up into white noise in your speakers; other songs — the hits — are classic Melvins tuneage, which means that they will make you wonder if the batteries are going dead in your boom-box.'^[8]Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot thought that the album 'asserts that a major-label deal hasn't watered them down a bit, though their king-size slam sounds clearer and punchier.'^[10]

Legacy[edit]

Treblezine named Houdini as one of the '10 Essential Sludge Metal Albums'^[6] and 'The 30 Best Grunge Albums'.^[13]Diffuser.fm rated it as number 10 on its list of '10 Best Grunge Albums'^[7] The track 'Hooch' is rated as one of the best songs of the decade by Pitchfork in the book The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present.^[14]

Mastodon drummer Brann Dailor listed the album as an influence.^[15]

In 2005, the album was performed live in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back series.^[1] Subsequent performances of the album occurred over the next few years, such as their appearance at the Primavera Sound festival in 2007^[16] and on the band's 25th Anniversary tour in 2009.^[17] A specially recorded live performance of the album was released as A Live History of Gluttony and Lust in 2006.^[18]

Largely out of print since the 1990s, the album was reissued in 2016 through Third Man Records.^[12]

Since 2007, Boston-based radio duo Toucher and Rich have used “Honey Bucket” as their show’s opening theme, specifically the instrumentation leading into the first verse.

Track listing[edit]

All songs written by the Melvins unless otherwise noted.

Some vinyl copies include a cover of 'Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)', originally by the MC5, instead of 'Spread Eagle Beagle'. A Japanese CD release (catalog# AMCY-625) also contains 'Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)' as the 14th track at the end of the disc, coming after 'Spread Eagle Beagle'.

Personnel[edit]

Chart positions[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcRitter, travis (May 21, 2009). 'No Happy Ending'. The Stranger. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
2. ^ ^abcEarles, Andrew (September 15, 2014). Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981-1996. Voyageur. pp. 191–193. ISBN978-0760346488.
3. ^I Found My Friends: The Oral History of Nirvana. St. Martin's. 2015. ISBN978-1466867215.
4. ^Kerrang! magazine, issue #1214, June 14, 2008. 'Treasure Chest. An Intimate Portrait of a Life in Rock. King Buzzo'. P.60
5. ^'PRIMER: Buzz Osborne Breaks Down 10 Crucial Melvins Records, Including Their Amp-Less Album and the One Kurt Cobain Ruined :: self-titled magazine'. Self-titledmag.com. June 16, 2010. Archived from the original on October 3, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
6. ^ ^abTerich, Jeff. '10 Best Sludge Metal Albums'. Treblezine. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
7. ^ ^abRobinson, Joe. '10 Best Grunge Albums'. Diffuser.fm. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
8. ^ ^abcGold, Jonathan (November 1993). Marks, Craig (ed.). 'Melvins: Houdini'. Spin. SPIN Media LLC. p. 134.
9. ^ ^abcKennedy, Patrick. 'Melvins - Houdini'. AllMusic. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
10. ^ ^abKot, Greg (October 28, 1993). 'Melvins - Houdini'. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
11. ^'The Melvins finally crack the Billboard Top 200 after 26 years'. The Washington Post. June 13, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
12. ^ ^abcAdams, Gregory (June 14, 2016). 'The Melvins '90s-Era Major Label Albums Get Reissue Treatment via Third Man'. Exclaim!. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
13. ^Green, Adam. 'The 30 Best Grunge Albums'. Treblezine. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
14. ^Plagenhoef, Scott; Schreiber, Ryan, eds. (November 2008). The Pitchfork 500. Simon & Schuster. p. 116. ISBN978-1-4165-6202-3.
15. ^Kerr, Dave (November 13, 2014). 'Under the Influence: Mastodon's Brann Dailor'. The Skinny. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
16. ^Diver, Mike (May 30, 2007). 'DiS at Primavera Sound: the preview'. Drowned in Sound. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
17. ^Young, Alex (March 5, 2009). 'Melvins to relive Houdini'. Consequence of Sound. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
18. ^Prato, Greg. 'Melvins - Houdini Live 2005: A Live History of Gluttony and Lust'. AllMusic. Retrieved July 5, 2017.

External links[edit]

• Houdini at Discogs (list of releases)

Melvins Flipper Covers Ep

Rock bands Melvins and Flipper have teamed up for a brand new collaborative track. The song is titled “Hot Fish” and features the talents of both of the groups members. The song is not the only thing the two bands have been working on, as “Hot Fish” is part of an upcoming EP of the same name. Melvins and Flipper are both long standing members of the underground grunge music scene, with both bands having perfected their sounds over the past few decades. With both of these groups working together, the upcoming Hot Fish EP is sure to be a great project.

Melvins Flipper Split

This collaboration is not the only thing Melvins have been up to in recent months, with the band recently making a few announcements regarding their plans for the rest of 2019. Last month, Third Man Records revealed that they would be releasing reissues of a few of Melvins oldest albums. This is the first time these records will be available on vinyl in years. In addition the old records being rereleased, Melvins also announced they would be going on a fall tour with the band Redd Kross. The two acts will be touring the US starting this September in San Diego, with the tour concluding in November in Las Vegas.

Melvins Flipper Split

Flipper has also been busy lately, as the band is currently in the middle of a 40th anniversary tour. The group began the tour earlier this year in April and plan on continuing through the end of July. So far Flipper has already performed in major cities such as Los Angeles and Las Vegas; the group’s next show is set for tomorrow night in Portland. Other notable cities that Flipper is planning on performing at later in the tour include Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco.

Even in the midst of all of the shows both groups are playing, they managed to set aside enough time to create a brand new project for fans. The Hot Fish EP is going to contain four songs, including the recently released title track, and be released via Amphetamine Reptile Records. The project is due to be released this upcoming Sunday on June 9, but until then fans can check out the “Hot Fish” single below.

Melvins Flipper Ep

Photo Credits: Raymond Flotat