•
Rating:
Despite being among the true inventors of grunge, Mudhoney never received the recognition they deserved. Too apathetic and irredeemably goofy to appear on the covers of glossy magazines. Capable even of releasing an irreverent track - "Overblown" - about the Seattle scene on the "Singles" soundtrack when the phenomenon was already monetizing and various Versace and Dolce/Banana were copying Cobain's (RIP) tattered sweaters.
Yet of that era, Mark Arm and company are the only ones still around, and even in the role of those who no longer make a wrong record. After the excellent "Tomorrow Hit Today" and "Since We've Become Translucent", here comes "Under a Billion Suns", whose gestation was anything but uneventful, as it was attributed with unusual political prerogatives. Indeed, this is true, and a large part of the tracks are full of anti-Bush jabs. But no worries: there's no cunning attitude like that of System Of A Down or the rhetoric of the latest Green Day around the corner. Just like in the unforgettable anthem "Touch Me I'm Sick", which with the usual swaggering attitude captured the paranoias of Reagan-era America during the AIDS nightmare, here too the political vein unfolds in a mocking and ironic tone. Truly amusing in this sense is "Hard-on War", which talks about "horny old man always eager for war".
Moreover, the band's handled sound material is so exciting as to be impervious to any cliché. Stylistically, "Under a Billion Suns" doesn't stray far from previous works. It's another happy attempt to repaint the stylistic palette of the immortal "Superfuzz Bigmuff", with the use of new instruments: excellent, for example, the xylophone on "Endless Yesterday", rich in surprising psychedelic nuances. Despite lacking the seminal urgency of their debut, Turner and Arm's guitars sound snarling and sparkling, in a garage-Stooges delirium to give you chills, or torrid as per Blue Cheer's lesson (listen to "A Brief Celebration of Indifference"). This very imprint also precluded mass success for Mudhoney, considering that most grunge heroes (from Soundgarden to Pearl Jam) forged their sound around the much more profitable Zeppelin archetype.
Perhaps now the times would be favorable, given the success enjoyed by rock and roll poseurs such as Babyshambles, Strokes, or Hives, but can you imagine that outcast Mark Arm on TRL or the cover of NME? It's a pity, because if we're talking about "rock and roll energy" these days – in episodes like "Blindspots", "I Saw the Light Yesterday", "It Is Us", or in an "Empty Shell" that seems like a brand new "Need" – you'll find plenty of it here. May the God of rock – if there really is still one – preserve these adorable drunks for a long time.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
05 Empty Shells (02:38)
Our souls took off and left us behind
That's when we lost our hearts and our minds
We have no use for them anyway
They don't fit in to our routine day
We're the Empty Shells of our former selves
We're the Empty Shells
We're the Empty Shells of our former selves
We're the Empty Shells
Empty Shells
You see us in groups, you see us on our own
Going to church, taking out loans
Following sports, working our jobs
Chances are you're already singing along
06 Hard-On for War (03:57)
Can you hear the little girls asking
Daddy where have all the little boys gone
The little girls, they ask me
Daddy where have all the little boys gone
They don't tease us in classroom
They don't meet us at the mall
The little boys are fighting
They have left us all behind
The little boys are dying
To preserve our way of life
It's our patriotic duty
To make sweet love tonight
See these lovely lonesome ladies
They don't ignore me anymore
All these lonely lovely ladies
Keep on kockin' on my door
I'm the only game in town
And it's so easy to score
Now i know why dirty old men are always pushin' for war
Now i know why dirty old men are always pushin' for war
I've become a dirty old man with a hard-on for war
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By Brizz89
The opening track immediately demonstrates the successful grunge-psychedelia combination, with very depressing melodies and a voice singing a very introspective and 'trippy' ballad.
They are indeed one of the few grunge bands to have survived so long, alongside Pearl Jam, despite shifting musical trends.
