Houdini (album)

Kurt Cobain was accepted by Melvins as a producer to the album after an A&R at Atlantic Records, who also ran Cobain's management company, suggested him.[1] Despite receiving a co-producer credit, the extent of Cobain's involvement in the album is questionable. Andrew Earles, who included Houdini on his book Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981-1996, stated that Cobain allegedly slept through most of the sessions.[2] Jonathan Burnside, a collaborator of Melvins and engineer on Houdini, remembered: "It's not easy reminiscing about making the album Houdini with Kurt Cobain and the Melvins. Bad communication, drugs, major label profiteering, rehab, schedule blowouts, backstabbing, and album miscrediting... it was a devil's album."[3] Speaking to Kerrang! in 2008, Melvins guitarist and vocalist Buzz Osborne, who later said in 2009 that Cobain was "in no shape to produce anything",[1] remembered:

"Houdini was the first album we did for Atlantic Records and certainly our biggest selling record, although not so much that I could put a down-payment on a new Rolls or something! It came on the whole tidal wave of Nirvana stuff and I'm sure if it weren't for that we wouldn't have had interest from a major at all. We wanted to do a record that wouldn't alienate our fans, but we wanted to do one that we would like. We also knew we weren’t gonna be dusting off a platinum album any time soon, you know? We did a bunch of sessions with Kurt Cobain [producing], but it got to the point where he was so out of control that we basically fired him and went our separate ways, which is unfortunate, because I think that would have been fun. Obviously that was a little snapshot of what would end up happening and I don't have a whole lot of fond memories of that – it was an absolute tragedy."[4]

Though the album's liner notes list Lorax as the band's bassist, she does not appear to have played on the album. On the credits for bass, Osborne stated: "This album is mostly just me and Dale Crover. Either I played bass or he did on almost all of it regardless of what the credits say…"[5]

The album's cover art features an illustration by graphic designer Frank Kozik.

Houdini features a sludge metal,[6][7] grunge[8] and doom metal sound.[2] Spin critic Jonathan Gold described the record as "not precisely an accessible mainstream album in the 'alternative' mode, not with its random-sounding ten-minute percussion solo, mumbled, cut'n'paste Beef-heartian lyrics, and tempos so slow they make Flipper seem as speedy as Slayer."[9] Earles thought that the album showcases two different versions of Melvins: "a noticeably better variety of the slow, ungodly heavy, yet melodic off-kilter doom-metal with which the band had made its mark in previous years, and speedier fare, like a thick and weird sludge-thrash driven by catchy, inspired songwriting."[2] AllMusic's Patrick Kennedy regarded the album as a "full fruition" of the outfit's "syrupy distillation of Sabbath riffage and Flipper's noisy anti-punk" that was originally pried open on Eggnog (1991) and Bullhead (1991) releases.[10]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[10]
Chicago Tribune	[11]
Pitchfork	7.7/10[12]
Spin	[9]

Houdini is considered Melvins' commercially biggest release. It has sold 110,000 copies[13] and peaked at number 29 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart. The track "Honey Bucket" also received MTV airplay.[14]

AllMusic critic Patrick Kennedy wrote: "With their voluminous output and determination to continuously expand their sound regardless of musical trends, the Melvins oeuvre has begun to rival -- at least on paper -- the career arcs of Frank Zappa and Neil Young."[10] Jonathan Gold of Spin stated: "A few sections are recorded so hot that the guitar distortion literally breaks up into white noise in your speakers; other songs—the hits—are classic Melvins tuneage, which means that they will make you wonder if the batteries are going dead in your boom-box."[9] Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot thought that the album "asserts that a major-label deal hasn't watered them down a bit, though their king-size slam sounds clearer and punchier."[11]

Treblezine named Houdini as one of the "10 Essential Sludge Metal Albums"[7] and "The 30 Best Grunge Albums".[15] Diffuser.fm rated it as number 10 on its list of "10 Best Grunge Albums".[8] The track "Hooch" is rated as one of the best songs of the decade by Pitchfork in the book The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present.[16]

Mastodon drummer Brann Dailor listed the album as an influence.[17]

In 2005, the album was performed live in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back series.[1] Subsequent performances of the album occurred over the next few years, such as their appearance at the Primavera Sound festival in 2007[18] and on the band's 25th Anniversary tour in 2009.[19] A specially recorded live performance of the album was released as A Live History of Gluttony and Lust in 2006.[20]

Largely out of print on vinyl since the 1990s, the album was reissued in 2016 through Third Man Records.[14]

All songs written by the Melvins unless otherwise noted.

Some vinyl copies include a cover of "Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)", originally by MC5, instead of "Spread Eagle Beagle". A Japanese CD release (catalog# AMCY-625) also contains "Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)" as the 14th track at the end of the disc, coming after "Spread Eagle Beagle".[21]

Melvins

• Buzz Osborne – guitar, vocals, bass, producer, mixing, engineer
• Lorax – bass (credited but did not perform)
• Dale – drums, vocals, bass, producer, mixing, engineer

Additional personnel

• Bill Bartell – bass, lead guitar (4)
• Billy Anderson – bass (6, 10); engineer (2–6, 8, 10–12), mixing (3–6, 10, 11)
• Kurt Cobain – guitar (8), percussion (13); producer (1, 7–9, 12, 13), mixing (1, 7)
• Al Smith – additional percussion (13)
• Mike Supple – additional percussion (13)

Production

• Jonathan Burnside – engineer (1, 2, 7–9, 12 and 13)
• Tom Doty – second engineer (1, 7)
• GGGarth Richardson – mixing (3–6, 9, 10, 13), producer (6, 10)
• Joe Marquez – second engineer (3–6, 9, 10, 13)
• Wolf Kessler – second engineer (6, 9, 10, 13)
• Lou Oribin – engineer (8, 12)
• Barrett Jones – engineer, mixing (11)
• Don Lewis – band photo
• Frank Kozik – art direction, illustration
• Valerie Wagner – art direction, design
• Stephen Marcussen – mastering

• Houdini at Discogs (list of releases)