Soundgarden: Ultramega OK (2LP) [SUB POP]

Why you'll love it

This expanded Sub Pop set is Ultramega OK remixed from the original multitrack tapes by Jack Endino, plus a bonus 45 RPM EP of early versions. The album earned Soundgarden a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance, and "Flower" became a 120 Minutes staple.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Remixed from the original multitrack tapes by Jack Endino
• Bonus 45 RPM EP of six early versions
• Printed inner sleeves
• Remastered
• Lyrics included

About the album

Kim Thayil came up with the title as a joke; Chris Cornell later translated it as "absolutely, unbelievably not bad." Self-deprecation aside, Soundgarden's first full-length is a ferocious thing, cut in spring 1988 in Seattle and Newberg, Oregon, mixing 60s psychedelia, 70s hard rock and 80s hardcore into what AllMusic called the "best expression" of the band's early Stooges-meets-Sabbath sound.

"Flower" opens with Thayil blowing across his guitar strings in time with the drums, "Circle Of Power" is a rare Hiro Yamamoto lead vocal, and "Smokestack Lightning" pays its respects to Howlin' Wolf. "665" and "667" poke fun at rock's devil-number panic, and Matt Cameron's drumming keeps the whole thing lurching forward. Endino, who had produced the Screaming Life EP, began remixing it back in the day, and he and Thayil finally finished the job in 2017.

The bonus disc pulls back the curtain on early takes of "Head Injury," "Beyond The Wheel" and "Incessant Mace." The album also closes with "One Minute Of Silence," a Lennon cover during which, Cornell admitted, Kim couldn't quite manage to stay quiet. Neither can we, frankly.

Also at Kops: more Soundgarden on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Sub Pop (cat# SP1172), a reissue of the 1988 album.