There comes a time in every aging music fan’s life when milestone anniversary editions of some of your favorite formative records start to appear. It’s clear to me that I’m now hitting that point in my life. I was fresh out of high school and busily acquainting myself with current underground music when Mudhoney unleashed their second album on the world. Grunge wasn’t a thing yet. Hell, Seattle wasn’t a thing when it came to mainstream music, but Mudhoney became a big thing to me. This record embodied the simple punk rock aesthetic that I had already knew and loved, but added in elements of garage rock, ’70s riff rock, and even a touch of psychedelia. Of course, within a few short months, the world would know what was up, and it seemed that overnight every single band in the Emerald City was a household name. Does it hold up thirty years later? You bet your ass it does. Decades after multimillion dollar careers were made and broken in the shadow of the Space Needle, Mudhoney remains with integrity intact and this album still shines out in an overall stellar discography. On top of the album, remastered and sounding fine, we have the second slab in the set. Here we get some of the stellar B-sides and compilation tracks from the era and five unreleased demos of songs from the album recorded by Jack Endino. While this hasn’t left my playlist since it came out, if you haven’t heard it in a while, you won’t find a better way to do so. I am still sick after all these years. –Ty Stranglehold (Sub Pop)