Piece of Cake (Expanded Edition)

Even with this, their major label debut, Mudhoney were defiantly unconventional, deliberately crude, and wedded to an aggressive noise that could never be bent enough towards commercial concerns to be taken seriously. Theirs has always been a noise that begins with Blue Cheer and works it way through the Stooges and countless garage bands that never recorded more than a handful of decent singles. Mudhoney made a career of it, but it’s been one spent in the margins with a dedicated following who can appreciate the raw beauty of “No End In Sight,” the psychedelic liquidity of the lead guitars in the wah-wah drenched “Make It Now,” and the punk rock rage at the heart of “Suck You Dry.” Singer Mark Arm commands the stage with a surly sneer but without the pretensions of the modern day rock god. The expanded edition includes ten additional cuts that further make the case for the band’s stylistic dominance. “Over the Top” cruises with authority. “In the Blood” snarls with a bluesy sauciness. “No Song III” bounces off a manic stroke that recalls the Stooges at their most wasted. Quite a few deserving new highlights.