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If there’s one band you can count on to make an album of cover songs that’s actually worth listening to, it’s the Melvins. And if there’s one band that can be expected to put their own spin on said covers album, it is, of course, the Melvins.
The Melvins are famous for being both heavy and weird in unexpected ways (see Prick, a nothing-but-noise album which Buzzo has said they did “strictly for the weirdness factor”.) and they have never shied away from covers; they frequently play other bands’ songs live and in fact included a Green River song (“Leeech”) on their first album, Gluey Porch Treatments. Over the years they’ve covered songs by bands as diverse as Fleetwood Mac, the Cars, and the Wipers.
Why did they pick these particular songs? Who knows. Each original offers a quanta of weirdness that the Melvins likely picked up on and wanted to exploit. Each original is heavy in its way, for its time and place. Most are a bit obscure. Each has punk edge, in attitude if not in sound. Each song offered something in the original arrangement that left space for the band’s improvisational approach: upright bass on some and their signature double drum onslaught. But there’s no mistaking Buzz’s bellow or shredded guitar, or Dale’s war march drumming once it kicks in, whether they’re playing Queen or Venom.
In the liner notes, the Queen song, “Best Friend”, is referred to as a song they knew would be a “head scratcher” for their fans, because it’s played and sang very much like the original and sounds very much un-Melvinsish. Venom’s “Warhead” opens up the CD and is the only “metal” song on the album, with Scott Kelly making an appearance on vocals and guitar. Jello Biafra “sings”in his creepy way on Roxy Music’s “In Every Dream Home a Heartache”, which has a surprise ending and which also has the boys playing with Kevin Rutmanis on bass once again. In a cool twist, Mudhoney covered a Scientists song, “We Had Love,” on one of my other favorite tribute albums, Set It On Fire, and here is Mark Arm making a guest appearance on the song “Set It On Fire”.
It’s easy to get lost in David Bowie’s original 12-minute-long “Station to Station” (it was written during his coke years and is fuzzy and experimental . . . perfect for the Melvins to warp.) Their version is sung by guest JG Thirlwell (Foetus). Tom Hazelmeyer (founding member of Halo Of Flies and the proprietor of Amphetamine Reptile) contributes vocals and guitars on the Jam’s “Art School”. Buzz completely reorganizes the final track from Throbbing Gristle, and plays all of the instruments himself, leaving it unrecognizable, even for people familiar with the original.
The album is billed as a proper Melvins album (which would be the lineup of Dale Crover, Buzz Osborne, Jarred Warren and Coady Willis), but there are a handful of songs recorded with just Osborne and Crover along with Trevor Dunn (“Female Trouble” by Divine, “Timothy Leary Lives” by Pop-O-Pies, and “Romance” by under-appreciated California hardcore band Tales of Terror).
All in all, the 13 tracks on Everybody Loves Sausages is bound to introduce you to some new bands, help you to reimagine bands you love, and perhaps understand the Melvins a little better, which as time and their career marches on, is getting harder and hard to do. In fact, the band just announced their 30th anniversary tour.
— Vanessa Salvia
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Everybody Loves Sausages will be available April 30 on Ipecac Records.
Track listing:
1. Warhead (Venom) Guest, Scott Kelly of Neurosis
2. Best Friend (Queen) Guest: Caleb Benjamin of Tweak Bird
3. Black Betty (original artist unknown, a popular version is by Ram Jam)
4. Set It On Fire (The Scientists) Guest Mark Arm
5. Station to Station (David Bowie) Guest: JG Thirlwell of Foetus and others
6. Attitude (The Kinks) Guest: Clem Bure of Blondie
7. Female Trouble (Divine, written by John Waters)
8. Carpe Diem (The Fugs)
9. Timothy Leary Lives (Pop-O-Pies)
10. In Every Dream Home a Heartache (Roxy Music) Guests: Jello Biafra and Kevin Rutmanis
11. Romance (Tales of Terror)
12. Art School (The Jam) Guest: Tom Hazelmeyer
13. Heathen Earth (Throbbing Gristle)
