Houdini is the fifth studio album by the Melvins, released in September 21, 1993 on Atlantic Records. The album was the band’s major label debut after releasing their previous albums on the independent label Boner Records.
The album features a cover of the 1974 Kiss song Goin’ Blind. The songs Hooch, Lizzy and Honey Bucket were released as singles with accompanying music videos. Night Goat is a partial re-recording of a song the band had released as a single in 1992. Nirvana‘s Kurt Cobain is given co-production credit alongside the Melvins on six tracks, for guitar on the song Sky Pup and percussion on the song Spread Eagle Beagle.
Kurt Cobain was accepted by the Melvins as a producer to the album after an A&R at Atlantic Records, who also ran Cobain‘s management company, suggested him. 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. Jonathan Burnside, a collaborator of the 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.”
Speaking to Kerrang! in 2008, the Melvins guitarist and vocalist Buzz Osborne, who later said in 2009 that Cobain was “in no shape to produce anything”, 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.”
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…”
The album’s cover art features an illustration by graphic designer Frank Kozik.
Tracklist:
- Hooch
- Night Goat
- Lizzy
- Goin’ Blind (Kiss cover)
- Honey Bucket
- Hag Me
- Set Me Straight
- Sky Pup
- Joan of Arc
- Teet
- Copache
- Pearl Bomb
- Spread Eagle Beagle (instrumental)
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”.
the Melvins
Buzz Osborne: guitar, vocals, bass producer, mixing, engineer
Lorax: bass (credited but did not perform)
Dale: drums, vocals, bass, producer, mixing, engineer
Guest musicians
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), additional percussion (13); producer (1, 7, 9, 12, 13), mixing (1, 7)
Al Smith: additional percussion (13)
Mike Supple: additional percussion (13)
Additional personnel
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
Frank Kozik (January 9, 1962 – May 6, 2023)
