Paul Armfield and the Four Good Reasons
Evermine
(Groove Attack, 2005)
www.grooveattack.com

Before we even get things started, this release is boring, but in a very soothing and reassuring manner (that should make sense).The band is tight, the lyrics are well thought out and written, but there’s just nothing there. Paul Armfield works in a book store and is probably a pretty solemn guy on a day to day basis. Even at shows, I’d imagine the guy and The Four Good Reasons (his band), put on an exercise in blatantly planned musics with a rather bland tone of voice. Without question though, if you like Van Morrison (minus any sort of intensity), then go and pick up this disc. There’s nothing flashy here, just sad songs created and produced in an authentic and almost urgent way.

The Melvins
Houdini Live: A Live History of Gluttony and Lust
(Ipecac Recordings, 2006)
www.ipecac.com

I don’t recall hearing the term grunge at any one specific time in my life and having it stand out. I simply realized one day that a number of bands that I was in-fact interested in had been branded with that moniker by the media and more specifically the band’s record labels. While a number of the commercially successful bands that bore that genre name had some similarities musically, the Melvins should be considered a separate entity, but were unfortunately lumped into that all too broad genre. However, much of their music was substantially more ear shattering and heavy than Nirvana, Pearl Jam or Soundgarden.  With the birth of Ipecac Recordings, the Melvins work has been given a new outlet. And on this release, an album originally recorded in the early nineties gets redone. The reassembled group sought to re-record Houdini after performing it live, in it’s entirety in Europe. Originally, this was The Melvins first major label release. Only two followed before they were dropped as a result of being something less then commercially viable. Regardless though, this was/is The Melvins at the height of their musical brutality. “Hooch” is so dense with noise and moves at such a slow pace, the listener may wonder why this band was ever labeled anything but metal. The release, though, shows why the band never really found mainstream success. First, they quite clearly never sought it and second, frequently the songs cascade into sections of pure fury and seeming frustration, producing a sound that really couldn’t ever be considered appropriate for pop radio airplay.  Occasionally, the band broaches a Motorhead type groove (“Cop-Ache”, “Set Me Straight”) and at other times it simply grinds out the tune (“Joan of Arc”).  Finally, what most likely restricted the band’s overall popularity was/is tracks like “Spread Eagle Beagle”, with its twelve minutes of percussive noise. All of this may not sound exactly positive, but really, not obtaining mass acceptance in this case because of a singular, musical vision which listeners of this release are allowed to revel raises Houdini to otherwise unknown and all too nasty heights.