Steve Albini - An Appreciation
Steve Albini taking in: Big Black, Shellac, The Wedding Present, Pixies, Nirvana, Palace, Slint, Low, Connolly’s of Leap, Nancy Spains, Sir Henry’s, Bandicoot Promotions, Zeitgeist magazine, Adrian Crowley, Nina Nastasia, Palace Music, Magnolia Electric Co, Bikini Kill, Dirty Three and The Auteurs.
Songs To Learn And Sing EP 962 – Wednesday 15 May 2024
Like many I was shocked and saddened by the news of Steve Albini’s passing on 07 May. He was a hero. I first came across Steve Albini’s name on the back of Surfer Rosa but it was his re-recorded version of The Wedding Present’s ‘Brassneck’ that really struck a chord with me.
Big Black - Atomizer (1992 reissue, Touch and Go). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
The Wedding Present followed ‘Brassneck’ up with the Albini recorded 3 Songs EP, featuring their version of Steve Harley’s ‘Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me), and then in May 1991 came the extraordinary Seamonsters - without doubt my favourite Wedding Present album and probably my favourite Albini recording. I have listened to ‘Corduroy’ emerge out of the fadeout of ‘Lovenest’ more times than I care to admit, and for me it remains one of the greatest moments in recorded music.
Big Black - Atomizer (1996, Blast First) and Songs About Fucking (1997, Touch and Go). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Big Black’s Atomizer came out in 1986, but I heard it for the first time in the summer of 1992. My cassette reissue on Touch and Go is from 1992 and was purchased in Newbury Comics in Boston while I was on a J1. I was working my way back, ‘Keroscene’ floored me then. It still floors me.
“I was born in this town
Live here my whole life
Probably come to die in this town”
Big Black - ‘He’s a Whore’/‘The Model’ 7” (1989 - repress, Touch and Go). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
In early 1998 Emmet Greene from Bandicoot Promotions booked two Shellac gigs as part of an Irish tour, I can’t remember for sure, but it was probably U:mack that did the other dates. Emmet would bring Shellac to Nancy Spains in Cork on Wednesday 10 June and the previous night they’d play a gig in Connolly’s of Leap.
Jim Morrish (aka Jim Comic) was publishing Zeitgeist at the time from his base in Munster Copying on Fr. Matthew Street. Zeitgeist had taken over from a previous publication of Jim’s called Choc-a-Bloc. Zeitgeist was published from the mid 90s, it was ambitious and appeared more regularly and it had a website. A WEBSITE in 1998 for God’s sake!
It gave a load of us a regular output for reviews, columns, features and more. It was a training ground.
Shellac - discography. Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Jim and I were massive Albini/BB/Shellac fans and I did a three page Albini overview for the March/April 1998 issue. Jim put Shellac on the cover and printed me off some lovely colour proofs which I still have and keep inside the sleeve of Terraform - they can be seen below.
Zeitgeist - Mar/Apr 1998. Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Steve Albini’s Shellac by Paul McD - pages 1 and 2.
Steve Albini’s Shellac by Paul McD - page 3.
Jim also printed some brilliant flyers for these Shellac dates. A gang of us made the journey down to Leap for the gig - there was no way we were going to miss out on seeing Shellac play one of the best venues in the country.
The Connolly’s gig is one of the greatest gigs I’ve ever witnessed, it was just a joyously uplifting night, made all the more fantastic by a young teenage girl shouting from the balcony during the Q&A, “Have ye any tapes?” There was also a funny moment where Albini called my old buddy Kieran Curtin, “a dumb ass”. I can’t remember the exact context but it had something to do with a broken guitar string.
Shellac - Terraform gatefold. Photograph by Paul McDermott.
I had recorded a radio show on Campus Radio earlier in the day before I was picked up in UCC for the journey down to Leap, so I had a bag of records with me. After the gig Albini, Bob Weston and Todd Trainer were chatting with fans so I pulled out my copy of Terraform. All three happily signed it with Albini writing: “Hey Bob, there’s squirrels over here! Albini 1998.”
I’ve seen Shellac loads of times since, but that gig in Leap remains a special memory.
Shellac - Live in Tokyo. Live recording from 1993 originally released in a small CD edition in Japan, this bootleg LP was gifted to me by Morty from the Sultans. Dowcha Morty! Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Steve Albini - Top 10
Discogs lists nearly 1500 records that Albini worked on. I’ve almost 100 of them. How do you narrow that down to 10? My list doesn’t include some of the big headline-grabbing names - PJ Harvey, Pixies, Nirvana, The Breeders or Manic Street Preachers - even though I love some of those records too, instead I’ve opted to pick out 10 records that really mean something to me.
The Wedding Present - Seamonsters (30th Anniversary Edition) (2021, RCA). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Seamonsters is one of my favourite albums of all time. I still listen to it, and I still love it to bits. Sometimes I think it’s the worst recording ever made by any band ever, and then other days I just get lost in its fuzziness and feedback. An absolute triumph.
Palace - Viva Last Blues (1995, Domino). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
I was going to go with its follow-up Arise Therefore (another Albini recording), but Viva Last Blues is probably the one I play more often. John O’Leary used to always play ‘New Partner’ in Sir Henry’s on Friday nights in the mid-90s. I used to DJ with John on Friday nights. One night as I was lifting his LP from the turntable, I fumbled and dropped the vinyl leaving a little scratch at the start of ‘The Mountain Low’ on Side A. I felt terribly guilty about scratching one of John’s favourite albums so I bought him a new copy and I took the one with the scratch.
Everytime I play this album I have to get up and lift the needle at the start of ‘The Mountain Low’ and I think of John and Henry’s.
The Auteurs - After Murder Park (1996, Hut Recordings). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Recorded in Abbey Road by Albini in March 1995. The record label didn’t release it until March 1996, perhaps sensing that its dark aggressive sound wouldn’t appeal to the Britpop masses. It sold nearly 60,000 copies but was deemed a commercial failure. It’s my favourite album by the band.
Low - Things We Lost in the Fire (2001, Tugboat Records). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
I came to Low with 1999’s Secret Name (also recorded by Albini), but its follow-up is my go to record by the band.
Dirty Three - Ocean Songs (1998, Bella Union). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Is Ocean Songs Ellis, White and Turner’s greatest album? Yes, it is.
Bikini Atoll - Liar’s Exit (2005, Bella Union). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Bikini Atoll were a post-rock band from London and Liar’s Exit was their second and final album. ‘Eve’s Rib’ is one of my favourite songs of the 00s. This is an incredible album.
Slint - Untitled (1994, Touch and Go). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Albini recorded Tweez and the two tracks that would later appear on the Untitled 10”. The first song is a reinterpretation of Tweez’s ‘Rhoda’ and the second song is called ‘Glenn’. This 10” is the Slint record that I go back to most often.
Adrian Crowley - When You Are Here You Are Family (2002, Ba Da Bing!). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A number of Irish bands and artists have made their way to Chicago to record with Albini: Berkeley, The Frames, Joan of Arse and Malojian. Adrian Crowley recorded his gorgeous second album at Electrical Audio.
Nina Nastasia - Run to Ruin (2003, Touch and Go). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Gerry Leonard recently featured on Episode 41 of my podcast To Here Knows When - Great Irish Albums Revisited. The focus of that episode was Hinterland, Gerry’s old band with his friend Donal Coughlan. Gerry has worked on albums by Bowie and countless others but Nina Nastasia’s Run to Ruin was the record I wanted to talk to him about. Gerry contributes guitar and hammered dulcimer to this masterpiece.
Magnolia Electric Co - What Comes After the Blues (2005, Secretly Canadian). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
The second album that was released by Jason Molina under the Magnolia Electric Co name. My favourite Molina record.
RIP Steve Albini.
