Customer Reviews

Ozma/Gluey Porch Treatments

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If you want to get into the twisted sound that is the Melvins, then you should start with this magnificent 70+ minutes of pure rock'n'roll madness! The Ozma/Gluey Porch Treatments split album is truly a test to see if you are worthy of the title "Melvins fan". If you like this one you will probably like most of their early material such as Bullhead and Lysol. It's not easy getting into these two albums, but they grow on ya for every listen. The only crappy track is "Love Thing", but luckily that is a Kiss cover, so please don't discard the band yet! There's one more cover(a great one at that), which is Candy-O by the Cars.

The best song is probably Eye Flys, which is more than 6 minutes of prime sludge. Slow, repetitive and meandering, which is not a bad thing when talking about the Melvins! If I had to choose between one of the two albums I'd probably choose Gluey Porch Treatments because it has the best tracks: Eye Flys, Echohead/Don't Piece Me and Clipping Roses. But Ozma is almost as good with hardass songs like Creepy Smell, Oven and Dead Dressed.

The Melvins do everything they can to confuse the keen listener: Dale Crover is a drum god(the most creative IMO) and his beats are unpredictable and complex. The Melvins use strange time signatures and unconventional riffs, and Buzz snarling voice was even weirder back in the 80's compared to the also wonderful days of Houdini and Stoner Witch.

Yes! These are the two albums that put Melvins on the global map. Uncompromising heaviness combined with mathematical autism, and embellished with Sir Buzz's poetry of sublime absurdity. This is not metal or punk. For those of you who know the language, this is more along the lines of Blast! or perhaps some of the better later-Black Flag - but far darker, and much, much slower. Gluey Porch Treatments is a black motor of an album (Victor Hayden where are you?), while Ozma a bit more straight ahead. While these albums are some of the most unflinchingly confrontational collections in the rock canon, make no mistake: these are important, landmark albums. Remeber: no Melvins = no Nirvana.

Tracks 1-17 are Ozma, and 18 on are GPT. GPT is slower, scarier, and just plain better than Ozma, though both are outstanding. GPT is like a terrifying monster, while Ozma is its bride. Still, both are scary, and well worth the listen. This will eat Nirvana and Pearl Jam fans for breakfast! Yeah!!!!

I started getting into Melvins after seeing the video for Hooch on Headbanger's Ball. I got Stag and then Stoner Witch, and liked them all, except for some of the experimental tracks on them. After reading the reveiws I decided to get some of their older material, and I am glad I did. Nothing experimental here, and all good tracks. I recently purchased several CD's, so I haven't given it much play yet, but I know I will.

I must say having heard of these guys for years, it was about time I checked their music. And where better to start than their first 2 albums helpfully combined on this one disc. Note: Ozma is actually the band's 2nd album, and Gluey... the first.

This album(s) are not going to be to everyone's taste, very murky, sludgy punk-metal, in the vein of latter day Black Flag, with touches of Black Sabbath and St. Vitus. It is very hard to listen to at times as it is oppressively slow, but have patience and you will find it a very rewarding listen. I would highly reccomend it to anyone with an open mind.

Don't come here looking for stuff that might sound like what others constitute as "grunge," for here you will find no remnants of Pearl Jam or their nine hundred counterparts. Melvins defined grunge, shaped it to better serve our planet in the form of heavy, beautiful nerve-grinding grooves of metal-on-metal and bone-on-pavement. Don't come here looking for something your trendy girlfriend will want to hear during foreplay-- all you'll find here are the two albums that defined rock, that defined grunge, that defined the northwest musical revolution. buy this album and you will hold more than just the best music in creation, you will hold history in your hands.

It's a lot of fun to hear music that wasn't created with the burden of any inhibitions, and that is why I have nothing but good things to say about the Melvins and this particular album (actually 2 albums). Like the majority of us outside the Pacific Northwest, I was turned on to the Melvins courtesy of Kurt Cobain in the early nineties and I bought Houdini. Houdini is good, but this would have been a more appropriate introduction to their music and I'm glad to finally hear their music from the ground up.

Yes! These are the two albums that put Melvins on the global map. Uncompromising heaviness combined with mathematical autism, and embellished with Sir Buzz's poetry of sublime absurdity. This is not metal or punk. For those of you who know the language, this is more along the lines of Blast! or perhaps some of the better later-Black Flag - but far darker, and much, much slower. Gluey Porch Treatments is a black motor of an album (Victor Hayden where are you?), while Ozma a bit more straight ahead. While these albums are some of the most unflinchingly confrontational collections in the rock canon, make no mistake: these are important, landmark albums. Remeber: no Melvins = no Nirvana.

Dark, Heavy and Loopy can describe the Melvins from WA State. They combine Iommi's guitars with a drunken, demented lyricism over a drummer who stops and starts and breaks up the backbeat like a jazz trapman. Ozma is slow and low with enough devestating riffs to occupy any fan of Kyuss or Pantera but there is something screwy going down. Buzz ain't right in his head. Gluey Porch Treaments is Ozma's predecessor from '87 and you can tell by the intensity of Eye Flys that this is not a mentally healthy rock and roll disc. I add both albums on this disc to my favorite rock albums list right next to Master Of Reality.

40 tracks of vintage Melvins featuring Buzzo, Dale and the infamous Lorax (who, by the way, is Shirley Temple-Black's daughter). From the sub-sonic intro to the bitter end this one is a classic.