Not sure how I ended up re-reading this whole 60 page thread, but I did. Amazing how the lineup and sonic change was taken back then. History repeats.
Kicking Machine is still my absolute jam from this record, but I also consider the beginning of "Suicide in Progress" and the slithering first half of "Dog Island" to be essential, inexorable Melvins. And there's plenty more on here to discover. This record does have more passages of noise, atmosphere, and experiment than its predecessor. But overall pretty solid. I go back and forth on "It Tastes Better Than The Truth" as I like it as a piece but it it just doesn't seem like it belongs on a Melvins album.
"Billy Fish" and "Dies Arrhea" are solid (or liquid if you prefer).
"Savage Hippy" is a better name and works well on the album, but it does disrupt the discography if you already collected the non collector scum disc or whichever amrep CD has the singles. Would have preferred they hold off for the album.
"Stupid Creep" is easily overlooked but a tight little punk (punk for the Melvins) number.
"Nude With Boots" is the anomaly, a song which seems to have a melodic joyous tone unlike almost all the records before or after. It's only in the pleated and collapsed rhythms, the length of riff, and the eventual doomy resolution that it's clearly and unequivocally Buzz.
