STAG

Started by melvins got poop?, December 05, 2003, 08:25:20 PM

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amazonAMAZON

THOUGHTS:

This album has probably the highest number of songs that remain in the live show of any album.

I think of Stag as "dense" as in "tightly packed with ideas." It has a pretty high learning curve but is also endlessly rewarding.

Much of the album seems to be about flesh, food and obesity. Especially "The Bit" which might be about eating a giant steak or burger. Also "The Bloat" as a song title is great.

Bar-x-the-rocking-m - Is this song title a physical description of its guitar riff? For some reason when I hear this song I laugh. It seems like maybe the a&r rep told them they needed "a hit rock song with power chords and a verse chorus verse structure and like a horn part so we can get on the radio" and Buzz was like "fuck you, here's bar-x, that's what you asked for. Melvins, bitch." For many years when I said the song title in my head it was "Bar TIMES the Rocking Em" as if the X was multiplication.

"Tipping the lion" is now probably my favorite Melvins guitar solo.

If you don't like this album yet you will. Everyone has a number of listens it will take to begin to appreciate it. Once you get close to memorizing the way the pieces fit together you will really fall in love with this record, not just this or that song.






meezer

Quote from: amazonAMAZON on March 05, 2015, 02:00:25 AM

"Tipping the lion" is now probably my favorite Melvins guitar solo.

Did you see Mark D play guitar on this one, on that tour?  8)
Hells to the yeah!

Quote from: amazonAMAZON on March 05, 2015, 02:00:25 AM

Bar-x-the-rocking-m - Is this song title a physical description of its guitar riff? For some reason when I hear this song I laugh. It seems like maybe the a&r rep told them they needed "a hit rock song with power chords and a verse chorus verse structure and like a horn part so we can get on the radio" and Buzz was like "fuck you, here's bar-x, that's what you asked for. Melvins, bitch." For many years when I said the song title in my head it was "Bar TIMES the Rocking Em" as if the X was multiplication.
Coming from Texas cattlemen, I got the reference immediately. A rowdy bar, with a name that emulates the style of naming ranches. Even in Arizona, we see all kinds of stuff like that.
Lazy-J. Upside Down B. Wrangler this, Rustler that. The irony is thick on a record that opens with the line "This is for cows!". I think The Bit is an exercise to understand what exactly a cow would think during it's life. Or I used to, back when I started listening to the Melvins. And actually cared about what the songs were about. Before I just became locked into that groove. That back and forth between Dale and Buzz, and sometimes bassist du jour as well.
Quote from: amazonAMAZON on March 05, 2015, 02:00:25 AM
THOUGHTS:

This album has probably the highest number of songs that remain in the live show of any album.

I think of Stag as "dense" as in "tightly packed with ideas." It has a pretty high learning curve but is also endlessly rewarding.

Much of the album seems to be about flesh, food and obesity. Especially "The Bit" which might be about eating a giant steak or burger. Also "The Bloat" as a song title is great.
It's probably about the record industry. And engineers who tow the company line for Atlantic, having lost a great deal of their creativity years before. Or how annoying Primus fans are. I don't know......
"Get off of our stage. If you want on this stage, get in show business." -King Buzzo
"Yeah, we don't come in the 7-11 where you work and get up on the counter." -Mark D
https://soundcloud.com/meezerpocalypse/nathalie-b20-driving-force-paploviante-cyclone-open-collab-meezerpocalypse-haboob-remix

Satchel Paige

The bit has always been about a slaughterhouse to me at least. Maybe even protesting the carnivore/herbivore lifestyle. That being said The bit is one of the worst songs on this grand album.

The bloat is a trancendance into outter body debaucher... I mean spirituality. One of the best rock songs ever written

Correct again meez, in the southwest 'bar x rolling' makes perfect sense...and to zz top fans.

Mints

I disagree due to the bass alone. Listen to where the repeating six-note bass pattern comes in in relation to the rest of the song from 0:25 to 0:45. Dun-dun-dun..DUN....DUN....DUN. Good stuff. There's another section later on that's similar too. Lots of layers to The Bit that I didn't hear upon first listen. (Not that you don't hear those things or have to like them. Just my opinion.)

borislikesitall

one of the best Melvins album with one of the worst drum sound of all. wish the skins sounded like they do on Stoner Witch everytime i listen to this.

Green Honey

"We're re-releasing the vinyl [from] Atlantic Records on Third Man. The guy from Third Man got the masters from Atlantic for the Stag record, he goes, "What are these two songs on here that aren't on the record?" ... "I dunno." He tells us [the names] and I don't remember what those are." - Buzz

So hopefully we'll get to hear two unreleased songs?

meezer

Quote from: borislikesitall on March 10, 2015, 04:04:03 PM
one of the best Melvins album with one of the worst drum sound of all. wish the skins sounded like they do on Stoner Witch everytime i listen to this.
Are you referring to the noize tracks / home demos that are mixed into the album? I could see that those don't hold up to the studio quality of Stoner Witch, but the bulk of Stag is the same, drum-wise.
"Get off of our stage. If you want on this stage, get in show business." -King Buzzo
"Yeah, we don't come in the 7-11 where you work and get up on the counter." -Mark D
https://soundcloud.com/meezerpocalypse/nathalie-b20-driving-force-paploviante-cyclone-open-collab-meezerpocalypse-haboob-remix

Satchel Paige

[visuthor=Mints link=topic=4068.msg537114#msg537114 date=1425695197]
I disagree due to the bass alone. Listen to where the repeating six-note bass pattern comes in in relation to the rest of the song from 0:25 to 0:45. Dun-dun-dun..DUN....DUN....DUN. Good stuff. There's another section later on that's similar too. Lots of layers to The Bit that I didn't hear upon first listen. (Not that you don't hear those things or have to like them. Just my opinion.)
[/quote]

Hey hey Doc you got me all wrong. I love the bit. It just can't defeat the bloat, goggles, buck Owens, sterilize, etc.

Edit: the 'breakdown' right before the verses on the bit are insane. I'm not really sure but I could swear I hear bass harmonics or something...but when I see it played live I can't visualize.

oldies radio

begins with the bit, ends with cottonmouth. who could argue with that?
All analog. Reel to reel. Fab Four. Little Deuce Coupe. Under My Thumb. Who's better than the Funk Brothers? No one!

Topaz

Quote from: melvins ate me on December 06, 2003, 02:30:32 PM
so if i go out to the store, they wont have stag there?
cuz its out of print?
I bought a copy from Amazon recently. They have it. (My other copy was borrowed and never returned.)

Topaz

Stag is the kind of album that I go back to occasionally to see if it will grow on me. It hasn't. Too "out there" for me I guess.

Although... it does have Buck Owens and Goggles.

meezer

So.....you're somewhere in between Stoner Witch (too polished and commercial) and Stag (too out there). Interesting......  :-s


Quote from: Topaz on February 26, 2016, 07:52:37 PM
Quote from: melvins ate me on December 06, 2003, 02:30:32 PM
so if i go out to the store, they wont have stag there?
cuz its out of print?
I bought a copy from Amazon recently. They have it. (My other copy was borrowed and never returned.)
Always see it at the used record store. Used. Not abused.
"Get off of our stage. If you want on this stage, get in show business." -King Buzzo
"Yeah, we don't come in the 7-11 where you work and get up on the counter." -Mark D
https://soundcloud.com/meezerpocalypse/nathalie-b20-driving-force-paploviante-cyclone-open-collab-meezerpocalypse-haboob-remix

))))((((

Stag talk! So... people here, and Melvins fans in general, really seem to adore this album. I always wonder why a little since it's never really done much for me. In fact i much prefer the previous two Atlantic records to this and personally i wouldn't include Stag in my top 10 Melvins records. Maybe not even in the top 15. So guys, why is this album such a Melvins classic?

meezer

Quote from: ))))(((( on April 05, 2018, 10:12:50 AM
Stag talk! So... people here, and Melvins fans in general, really seem to adore this album. I always wonder why a little since it's never really done much for me. In fact i much prefer the previous two Atlantic records to this and personally i wouldn't include Stag in my top 10 Melvins records. Maybe not even in the top 15. So guys, why is this album such a Melvins classic?
Tell em about the Tool thing!  :o
"Get off of our stage. If you want on this stage, get in show business." -King Buzzo
"Yeah, we don't come in the 7-11 where you work and get up on the counter." -Mark D
https://soundcloud.com/meezerpocalypse/nathalie-b20-driving-force-paploviante-cyclone-open-collab-meezerpocalypse-haboob-remix

))))((((

Just had another listen to this one. Slightly better than i remembered. It's funny how distinctly different the sound of the band was (or rather the recordings) were back then as opposed to Toshi's digital approach now. I have to say that the track 'Soup' is a total stinker though! It's always one i've never liked. 'Fick Fader' absolutely should have taken that spot instead.