Houdini

[(PAUL)]

20 years old today.

[jules]

Good Lord.

[Der L]

Good Lord.

Patrick Stewart reacts

[jules]

 

[Dan_Halen]

20 years old today.

That's crazy, I remember ordering the vinyl and my friend got the tape and we were on the phone freaking out over the fact we each had a different last track on the album. I also remember opening it up for the first time and being blown away by the artwork. Then as soon as I put it on and heard "hooch" it was all over. By the time "Goin' Blind" came on I was almost in tears I was so happy. I had only known the shitty live bootleg previously and didn't even know it was a Kiss song until Houdini 

[homeless_dad]

20 years old today.

Just as good now as it was when it was released. 
Thing about Melvins albums, they do age well.

[homeless_dad]

Houdini review from my old Guitar Player magazine December 1993.

[Dumpster D]

I like that last line. 

[meezer]

My guitarist gave me a (manufactured) cassette of Houdini. Sounds great. Just annoying, to wait so long for the music to start at the beginning of each side. Also, I would never program the track order the way the Melvins have it. It was an interesting experiment to hear it that way, and not do anything about it.

[Dumpster D]

Yep. Though ALL tapes are Manufactured..I believe you meant to say COMMERCIAL cassette.

While cassettes are also mastered different than LP or CD, so the higher Harmonic spectrum that digital doesnt Capture is well encoded into the cassette, you might notice though its more compressed sounding too.

Dead air at the beggining and end of a tape is important. The first 20 seconds of a tape are no good.

I think that was an Atlantic Tape so DO check and see if there is the DD Logo on the side of the tape For DOLBY Noise Reduction. (dont remember if It does have Dolby NR or not) ITs the little Square Symbol. That means its encoded with Dolby B Noise Reduction.

Which was desighned to work both ON and Off. Should give you 10Db of boost if your Deck is calibrated right tight.


play the Tape with NR on, and boost up the treble to +6Db (midway around noon) Cut your Bass to 0Db (Dead centre) and you can turn it up real loud, and the Punch of the midrange will do its Job.

[homeless_dad]

Love this guy!!

[borislikesitall]

it's a transitional album. i love it but it would've made a great mini EP.

Hooch
Honey Bucket
Hag Me
Sky Pup
Joan of Arc

all kill!!!!!

[jules]

Was Houdini released on cassette in Japan? I have a niggling feeling that it might have been. Photos and rumours, please.

[the bloat]

Pitchfork adds a review: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/melvins-houdini/

[CoryCory]

That's actually a really good read there, digging into the history prior and acknowledging the fact Lori isn't on it. The observations of Buzz's lyrics, the songwriting and a bit on Spread Eagle Beagle is quite the read too.

Funny how it scored a 7.7, one decimal behind Chicken Switch.