Mangled Demos from 1983

[mumu]

If you're in Birmingham, UK Tempest Records has Mangled Demos for sale now. Bought my copy today...interesting historical document at least.

Is it the type of album you'll listen to again and again?

[anaconda]

the original mangled demos sounded like trash, if these
are the same thing how can they sound any better??

[turnacus]

Yeah, but so is Jesus.


A faggot that is.

[Reverend Ebeneezer]

If you're in Birmingham, UK Tempest Records has Mangled Demos for sale now. Bought my copy today...interesting historical document at least.

Is it the type of album you'll listen to again and again?

Not really. No, it's just so different from their sound...it's just kinda fast trashy punk, although Set Me Straight and Bang My Head (which is titled a couple of different things on it) are still worth listening to, and there were some other diamonds in the rough, but I'm glad they evolved. As always with these reissues Buzz's linear notes are possibly the best part...

[Chuck Hartford]

You wanna know where it all started? Rock music that is. We are very proud to release the very first recorded material by rock legends the Melvins. The Mangled Demos is a compilation that Buzz pieced together from the earliest recordings of the Melvins that dates back to 1983. Enjoy the musical terrorism that they unleashed as mere youngsters. Truly a historic piece. Even back then they ran circles around todays warped tour wannabes. Check out early versions of some Melvins classics. Visit the Elks lodge with the original Melvins lineup. OUT NOW!!!!

if anyone even gives a shit

[DubEMC]

This does have a really brutal take of Snake Appeal.

[el_futurist]

I've got a review copy here and, although there aren't any surprises musically, it's the LINER NOTES that steal the show. Hillarious stories about growing up in Gray's Harbor...Dillard's sister buying the band alcohol...nasty criticism for Kurdt Vanderhoof...it's all there.

Also included are a few 'spoken word' gems and another smokin' version of "Forgotten Principles". But Osborne's notes are the best thing to appear on a Melvins release since...

[Galvano]

I've got a review copy here and, although there aren't any surprises musically, it's the LINER NOTES that steal the show. Hillarious stories about growing up in Gray's Harbor...Dillard's sister buying the band alcohol...nasty criticism for Kurdt Vanderhoof...it's all there.

Also included are a few 'spoken word' gems and another smokin' version of "Forgotten Principles". But Osborne's notes are the best thing to appear on a Melvins release since...

You don't say?....

http://www.themelvins.net/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=3112

[rimb]

It's out here in Australia and I picked up my copy this afternoon.
Quality is better than I expected, although I have never heard the original bootleg.  As mentioned many times, the liner notes are great and there are some ripping performances of the early tracks like Snake Appeal and Forgotten Principles.

[Leroy]

does it have the song on it where he says "give up!  give it to me!", which is the one that was on the Salad of 1000 Delights dvd?

[rimb]

does it have the song on it where he says "give up!  give it to me!", which is the one that was on the Salad of 1000 Delights dvd?

It's on there twice as matt-alec and MATT-ALEC

[Dr. Gonzo]

http://markprindle.com/melvinsa.htm#mangled

[mumu]

... if anyone even gives a shit

Have you ever wondered why people take shits instead of giving shits?

[mumu]

He only gave Stag a 6/10, and Stoner Witch 7/10.       At least Bullhead was closer to the mark (9/10).

Here's the relevant part of his review sans the mini-diatribe on whatever:

Code Select Expand

7/10
Mangled Demos From 1983 is a collection of very well-produced (for a demo) punk rock songs recorded by the earliest incarnation of the Melvins: singer/guitarist Buzz Osborne, bassist Matt Lukin and drummer Mike Dillard. Although many of the songs utilize generic, predictable punk/hardcore chord combinations of the day, they rise above their limitations thanks to an already EXTREMELY confident and confrontational vocal style, an angry fuzz tone that ranks up there with early Black Flag, and a tight, powerful punk rock drummer. This combination is more than enough to justify sitting through the "Forward To Death" riff for the 400th time.

So why would these have just been sitting around in somebody's ass for 22 years when they provide such an interesting glimpse of the band's fast punk origins? It can't be that Buzz was embarrassed by them, and the Melvins have certainly never objected to the idea of "flooding the market" with new material. My guess is that he just hadn't thought about them in years -- until his band's recent collaboration with Jello Biafra. I can just imagine him telling Jello, Kevin and Dale, "Ah man, when the Melvins first started, everything we PLAYED sounded like this. I oughta dig out some of that old stuff." Just an assumption, but a logical one, I'd say! Certainly these demos would have made a more interesting release than 20 Songs or whatever that update was they put out a few years ago. At any rate, let's describe the CD in greater detail for the people in the Chicken Gallery:

Five of the tracks are identified only by symbol, not by title. I don't know why this is, nor do I know why the final two tracks are of complete silence. However, I DO understand the humorous intent of including both (a) a drunken idiotic band argument recorded during a rehearsal when they were 19 and (b) the announcers' introduction and reaction to the band's youthful performance on an Elks Lodge Christmas radio show ("I have a hunch we're about to get our sinuses cleared." "Oh my goodness! Now THERE is a sound!" "We're back here live at the Elks Lodge - at least, I THINK we're still alive..."). Archaeology can be pretty G_____D_'d funny if enough time has passed between the burial and the dig. And hey! What's that, if not an early version of "Set Me Straight"? And hey! Did "Snake Appeal" as we know it actually sound this catchy with adorable boppy bass line? One would have to re-listen to the one we know to find out, and one has not done so!

For the most part, these are not great songs. But they're not BAD either. Just sort of formulaic. And there are some instant classics in there that you definitely gotta hear at some point - "Forgotten Principles," "The Real You" and a couple of the symbol-titled songs are totally killer anonymous speedball tunes that would have sounded great on the old WREK punk rock show I listened to every week when I was 16. And the whole project was just a good idea. It still doesn't answer the question, "Where the hell did Gluey Porch Treatments come from?" (In fact, it makes it even HARDER to understand!) But it's nice to know that, like many of us, Buzz Osborne began his musical career as a normal punk rock kid trying to imitate his favorite bands. Wouldn't you feel like a complete loser if the first thing he wrote after picking up a guitar was "Eye Flys"?

Ooo! Another interesting thing is that you can TOTALLY tell Kurt Cobain learned how to play the guitar by watching his young love Buzz. Check out the guitar break in "I Don't Know"; that's so Kurt Cobain I can almost SEE him wiggling his little fairy dick inside Courtney's house vagina!

Is that okay? That I can't listen to a song without getting a mental image of the performer having sex with his wife? It really wasn't a problem until that last Paul McCartney album came out. I mean, does she leave the fake one ON, or does he come in from the empty side and rub his balls against her remaining one? And I'd have to guess that doggy is out of the question unless her balance is just amazing.

Maybe I'll send him an email. I assume he's at PaulMcCartney@yahoo.com, unless somebody else with the same name got there first. Maybe I should try SirPaulMcCartney@yahoo.com.

Oh, but then what if it winds up going to some Indian guy named Sirpa Ulm Ccartney? Forget it; I'll just throw something in the mail.

Paul McCartney
The Beatles
Liverpool, England

There we go. Okay, I'm all set! Thanks for the nigger!

Wait, that's not - what do you call the

Ah! Yes. Thanks for the ginger! My tea tasted like boar's piss without it!

And I'd know from boar's piss! Why, just the other day I.... (*tells interesting story*)

[Chuck Hartford]

a sample of track # five (flower) is up on Ipecac