The Melvins are a touring machine; I have been fortunate enough to see them play four or five times during the last decade. They have also put their shows to tape on nearly a dozen releases. While many of those recordings are not top-shelf quality, this new release is the best document of the Melvins live experience to date.
The 13 songs on Sugar Daddy Live, while recorded at an undisclosed time, seems to predate the Melvins' most recent studio full-length, The Bride Screamed Murder, which was a bit of a mixed bag. Instead, the band kicks off the show with three punchy songs from 2008's Nude with Boots, sticking to recent material for most of the setlist. "Civilized Worm," from 2006's utterly fantastic A Senile Animal, is an early highlight, its lockstep rhythm and easy-to-shout-along-to verses suiting the Melvins' playing—raucous, upbeat, forceful playing, a slight increase in tempo, and lots of crunch.
Since 2006, Jared Warren and Coady Willis, founding members and lynchpins in Big Business, have also served as full-time members of the Melvins—a combination that has not only resulted in a late-career spark and several great albums, but their most powerful live lineup to date. I'm sure Melvins know this, of course, as they keep the emphasis squarely on material made with their current line-up. As the show moves along, they do dip into their back catalog a couple times—first for a nine-minute version of "Eye Flys," the lead track from 1987's debut Gluey Porch Treatments, then for "Tipping the Lion," from 1996's difficult Stag. Those two cuts aside, the band draws all the other songs in the main set from A Senile Animal and Nude with Boots.
In keeping with the Melvins' odd sense of humor, the encore starts off with straight-faced, and therefore subtly bizarre, reading of "The Star Spangled Banner." Naturally, this segues into a 12-minute, feedback-laden version of fan favorite (and namesake of one of metal's most chameleonic, yet very clearly Melvins-indebted, bands) "Boris." That song opens its parent album, 1991's inimitable Bullhead, serving as a swampy, smacked-out lead-in to a half-hour sludgefest. Here, it closes a joyous, energetic live show just as effectively.
It is apparent, from the enthusiasm on display, that Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover still get a kick out of playing together and aren't just going through the motions. Coupled with their revamped line-up and song selection, Sugar Daddy Live is the Melvins' best live document. These songs hold their own with anything in the band's back catalog, drawn from their most inspired albums since their mid-'90s winning streak—Houdini, Stoner Witch, and Stag—as uncompromising a run as I have heard on a major label. That's a high compliment to A Senile Animal and Nude with Boots: unlike most bands their age, Melvins are making vital albums a quarter-century into their career. By the evidence on Sugar Daddy Live, they remain committed to totally killing it on the live circuit, too.
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