From Louder Than War: The Fluid: Sub Pop Vinyl Reissues
RECORD REVIEW: Untouchable grunge/punk and roll heroes, The Fluid, reissue their entire RayOn and Sub Pop catalogue on vinyl for the first time.
The Fluid: Punch n Judy (Originally RayOn Records, 1986)
The Fluid: Clear Back Paper (Originally Sub Pop, 1988)
The Fluid: Roadmouth (Originally Sub Pop, 1989
The Fluid: Glue (Originally Sub Pop, 1990)
The Fluid: Overflow (Out-takes and Oddities, Sub Pop 2024)
OUT NOW!
Not only were Denver, Colorado’s The Fluid there, right at the start of the legendary Sub Pop story, but their live performances and immaculate run of records between 1986 and 1990 were the envy of their peers, and still stand as beacons of promise for everything Sub Pop would go on to deliver throughout their glory years.
And yet the band remains comparatively obscure.
Sean Millard screams “Objection, Your Honour!” as he quivers with excitement at what he considers to be the record release event of the year: their entire Sub Pop catalogue remixed, remastered and re-issued for the first time, after being out of print for more than thirty years!
I never got to see The Fluid live. It’s one of my biggest musical frustrations.
By (literally) all accounts, every performance was verging on the mind-blowing – high energy, kinetic rawk, in the best possible way. I so wanted my mind to be blown too, but, sadly, no dice. Such was life out in the provinces, that the opportunity never occurred within a realistic distance. Annoying.
Nevertheless, The Fluid were up there with Mudhoney, Tad and Nirvana as the big Sub Pop Four, for me. Their garage-influenced punk-rock-Stooges-style riffing easily went toe-to-toe with the label’s more renowned bands. The consistent quality of their releases was only over-shadowed by their live reputation.
My name is Sean Millard and I am a Fluid Evangelist.
It’s always been a mystery to me, but their releases never attained the same status as the Big Four or, for that matter, Afghan Whigs, L7, Helmet, Dinosaur Jr et al. Theirs was (and still is) an unjustifiable omission from the pages of grungy garage punk rock history. If I didn’t find it so curious, I’d consider it outright offensive.
So what did they lack when held up against their peers?
Great releases. Check.
Amazing live reputation. Check.
A teen idol/engaging frontman. Check.
Dirty guitars and enormous choruses? Check.
Support from the most important and well-publicised label of the time. Check.
Respect from their peers. Check. Check. Check. Check-as-lo-bloody-vakia.
I just don’t get it.
The one anomaly was their location. The Fluid were one of the first bands that Sub Pop signed – and definitely the first from outside the Pacific Northwest – perhaps it’s as simple that. Denver was not as in vogue as Seattle was.
I can’t believe that could be a reason for less success – but it’s easy to forget how many headlines revolved around Seattle itself in the music press at the time and how, perhaps, the band missed out on key opportunities because they didn’t live there.
Maybe it’s that they didn’t ever have a breakout single. Tin Top Toy is great, and they did have a live split with golden boys Nirvana – but nothing remarkable, in terms of success or notoriety. Perhaps they needed their own Touch Me I’m Sick, Retarded, Jack Pepsi, Freak Scene, Shove or Unsung.
It’s all I can put it down to. The Fluid weren’t played at clubs like the other bands were because they never had that gateway song that was everywhere within those discerning circles.
Maybe.
Try this: take out any record by The Fluid at random.
Drop the needle anywhere. I guarantee you’ll find more hooky, mucky, charismatic and punchy “grunge” returned to you than you can handle – tunes that far exceed their ‘rivals’ for consistency and energy across every LP.
When tripe like Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam retrospectively appear to stand the test of time and become icons of a genre, you have to wonder why, and question the coherence of the biz, the buyers and the bullpens who allowed that to happen at the expense of true greatness.
I’m not exaggerating: The Fluid piss all over all of them. This may be a bit biased.
So sue me. Go bleat to your mama. I know the truth.
Corporate Rock Still Sucks.
I’m just trying to get you to see that and hear it for yourself.
And you can do that more easily from December 6th because Sub Pop are (at last) re-issuing The Fluid’s entire label catalogue including their non-Sub Pop debut – and a rarities and outtakes collection, for your delectation.
You heard me: Punch N Judy, their self/released first LP, Clear Black Paper and Roadmouth – their two Sub Pop full-lengths – plus the immaculate Glue mini-LP and Overflow – a new rarities and outtakes comp.
On physical media once again.
I know.
FIVE of them.
Steady…
Contain it.
Pretty colours, as well.
And guess what? They’ve all been remastered by Jack Endino, too!
More definition! More clarity! More power! More whoop-ass!
In addition, single tracks, Candy (Live), from their split 7” with Nirvana and Tin Top Toy will be available digitally.
You deserve to be oscillating with excitement.
Merry fucking Christmas.
PUNCH N JUDY:
Vinyl Colour: Blue-Eyed Beauty
Punch N Judy was the band’s first album, in 1986, on RayOn records, which seems to have been formed with the sole intent of releasing it.
Sub Pop have got the rights now, so it’s included alongside the more widely available other releases from the band in this reissue/remaster/re-release event. I’ve got the European Glitterhourse reissue from 1987 with different artwork, mix, song order and extra track.
If you’re looking for Ann Arbor Worship in excelsis, put Punch N Judy on the turntable.
From the opening riff of You, The Fluid’s intentions are clear. Their inspiration is even clearer – made even more so by the occasional ‘Funhouse’-style honking sax. There’s a strong garage vibe that even references The Stones in places, but it’s not a retro sound – even in 2024. It’s just that its lineage is clear.
The entire LP has a stronger whiff of Pebbles/Nuggets-esque primitive rock than the albums that followed – which makes it a really engaging and addictive debut.
From the wah-drenched solo of Turn Away, through My Future – which sounds like The Action sound-checking for an opening slot at a Growling Garage Showcase, to the upbeat punk of Static Cling, the album is full of rough-as-fuck bangers, complete with overloading vocals and discordant “harmonies”.
A big part of its charm is its recording. Endino’s knob-twiddling for the reissue only enhances the bristling power chords and cymbal saturation.
The energy is staggering – it makes you wonder when you last felt that Cro-Magnon rush of adrenaline that only the best garage punk can give you.
The answer is: too long ago, BTW.
Combined with their live attitude, it’s not hard to see why Sub Pop snapped them up like they did.
CLEAR BLACK PAPER
Vinyl Colour: Baby Baba Yellow
Amusingly kicking off with “Eins, Zwei, Drei, Quattro!”, one of the greatest songs of the era launches the album. Cold Outside stays in your head for so long it starts contributing to the bills.
Clear Black Paper was only the second LP Sub Pop ever released. Poneman and Pavitt were fans of Frantix, one of the pre-Fluid bands the members had played in, so were already aware of their presence. Add to that, an eventful Seattle gig alongside Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone and Soundgarden – which must have been an incredible night – Sub Pop’s excitement was fizzing enough to sign them.
Punch N Judy is solid, punk-infused rock and roll. It’s hard to listen to without being flabbergasted at The Fluid’s knack for writing a really good chorus. They frequently do that old-skool call-and-response thing.
It works so well – and it’s not cheesy – despite, perhaps, sounding like it should be. Clear Black Paper is clearly an evolution from Punch N Judy, but the DNA is still pronounced and present. The recording is tighter, and the songs are more crafted and driving – but the core ferocity remains.
I genuinely wonder how responsible The Fluid were for inspiring bands to form and follow them to Sub Pop. Their sound is more formative than other bands on the label – you could even describe it as proto-grunge.
There’s an argument to be had: did The Fluid have more of a hand in inventing a genre, alongside Green River, than we previously acknowledged? But where Green River might have more historic renown, because of what their members went on to achieve in Mudhoney and Pearl Jam, The Fluid have the tunes. And you can’t beat the tunes.
Again, Endino’s re-engineering is a master class of oomph. Side by side, the old and new don’t compare. He’s done a great job of bringing more power to Clear Black Paper.
ROADMOUTH
Vinyl Colour: Lumi-Snot Green
And then comes Roadmouth, 1989’s incredible full-length, and the moment the band realised their full potential. Less derivative. More confident.
And every single song an anthem that thrills every atom in your tired old biology.
I played Roadmouth more than any other Sub Pop LP at the time. Of course, the competition is stiff – Bleach, Mudhoney, God’s Balls, Up In It – my god, the competition was so stiff – but Roadmouth offered something that none of the others did. It was fun, like Mudhoney. It was consistent, like Bleach, but it rocked like no one else. It’s a dirty, punching, bare-chested, sweaty-arsed good time.
The riffs are mighty. The playing is on the nose. The compositions are lean as fuck. What an ace album.
Opener Hooked kicks the doors down. John Robinson’s vocals have grown grit and are higher in the mix. That alone indirectly presents the band as more confident. The drums are heavier, more textural – instead of the overloaded four/fours of the previous LPs, now we get more versatility, more kit-work, more depth.
Endino brings more space and clarity now than then – and it serves the songs so well. They’ve got the grimy polish they deserve.
The same can be said for the guitars – whether we’re focusing on Kulwicki (RIP) and Clower’s fuzz drenched, wah- driven exploits, or the surprisingly pronounced and melodic bass of Matt Bischoff – the band are pushing together into new directions, unafraid to try new things.
Side One closer Fools Rule is the best example of this, with it’s multi-textured vocals, Here Comes Sickness pacing, and uplifting, deliciously ear-worming chorus. It still feels like its pushing boundaries within the constraints of genre-expectation.
There’s not a shitty song on Roadmouth.
Other tracks particularly worthy of note, though, are Ode to Miss Lodge for its weirdly descending melodicism and Twisted and Pissed for being The Fluid’s Touch Me I’m Sick.
It’s the song of the record. What a cracker.
Lastly, Is It Day? should be mentioned for its perfect two-minute promise.
Shoulda been a single.
GLUE
Vinyl Colour: Slick As Shit Silver
It’s hard not to consider the six-track mini-LP, Glue, as the ultimate release by The Fluid. Everything Roadmouth brought to the table, Glue delivered with a heightened, amphetamine-sharp awareness. Partly because of Butch Vig’s production – which has so much palpable punch it takes your breath away – but also because of the song choices and performances. Jack Endino’s work enhances yet again.
Our Love Will Still Be There might just be the best song The Fluid ever committed to tape – and it’s certainly one of those few covers that beat the original versions to a pulp. They make it their own. It’s indistinguishable from one of their songs.
The Troggs didn’t stand a chance.
But we are launched straight from there to the rolling rock of Black Glove and, incredibly, from there, to the even greater heights of Closet Case, with it shouted backing vocals and immaculate riffing.
It seems incredible to me that you can have a perfect first side like that and still climb further once the disc is flipped – Candy, FFS – never have the band sounded so electrified – and it was good enough to split with Nirvana.
They were that good.
And Candy is their self-penned masterpiece. It genuinely leaves me breathless.
The yearning Pretty Mouse is the second track on Side Two: “I’m starting to like it here…”. Me too, me too.
And that chorus… sweet baby Jesus.
Glue slows down to close, with the bluesy Wasted Time. It’s a breath-catching, nodding-out, loping ballad that recalls The Stooges’ Dirt to me, at least in the verses, but the band’s aforementioned penchant for huge choruses comes into play and elevates it far beyond its inspiration.
Utterly indispensable.
OVERFLOW
Vinyl Colour: Kurious Oranj
Overflow is a new release, put together especially for this event. It consists of unreleased out-takes and alternate versions of tracks, mainly from Clear Black Paper, supplemented by a couple from Roadmouth and one from Punch N Judy.
For the collectors out there, this is the most exciting element of the event – new material!
A cover of Kill City! This is a big, exciting deal.
But for those reading this, previously unaware of the band or with an incomplete discography, it’s the one release you can skip. The full picture of The Fluid can be obtained from their official releases. Overflow is for the next level down – those of us with a driving curiosity and insatiable desire to absorb more from what was one of the best bands of the era – and certainly one of the best on Sub Pop.
I really hope you go out and buy (or re-buy) the entire catalogue. Become an Advanced Reader who needs Overflow as much as I do.
Every one of the records is a masterclass in how to rock and fucking roll – the songwriting is genuinely amazing, and feels far less contrived than anything comparative 30 odd years later.
Endino’s attention has ensured that recordings remain bright, dynamic and engaging to modern ears.
All told, this is a worthwhile, fun and revelatory experience, start to end. It will satisfy old and new fans alike – because there’s not much coming through these days that rocks like The Fluid. How could it? It’s weirding me out a bit – how contemporary they feel.
It’s more than standing the test of time; it’s being entirely timeless.
Go play. There’s no way you’ll regret it.
Ave, Ultra!
Roadmouth is an amazing album. I saw them playing with Tad in Manchester back in 1990. Afterward the band and all of Tad except Tad himself (he stayed at John Robb’s house I believe) slept at my squat in Hulme, Manchester as they couldn’t afford hotels at the time. They were lovely people and really rocked live.