Jello Biafra with the Melvins – Sieg Howdy! (Alternative Tentacles)

Last year, aging punk icon Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) teamed with the equally legendary Melvins to put together a collaborative effort called “Never Breathe What You Can’t See”. There was a lot of material from those sessions that were not released until this record. You’d think that maybe these were just the castoffs, but instead I find “Sieg Howdy!” to be the better release, which I think is because the album sounds like the Melvins were more in control of writing this one.

While “Sieg Howdy!” isn’t the classic album you could hope to get from this teamup, its still a worthy record I recommend a fan of either band to search out. The album opens with a cover of Alice Cooper’s “Halo of Flies”, which is better than the original, though I don’t know if thats saying much since I never really cared for ol’ Alice. Jello continues to rant and rave against the current state of the world in an extended version of “Never Breathe”’s “The Lighter Side of Global Terrorism” and a Schwarzennegger bashing update of “Kali-Fornia Uber Alles”.

Jello also apparently couldn’t seem to resist an attack on his former bandmates, with “Those Dumb Punk Kids” taking aim at old punks reuniting to make a quick buck. The highlight though, and an indication of why we should encourage Biafra to keep hanging with Buzzo is “Lessons in What Not to Become”, easily one of the best punk songs to be written in the last decade. It might be safe to actually call this an EP, as depite there being 10 tracks, 3 of those are remixes, the best of which is done by Ministry’s Al Jourgensen, who puts his spin on “Enchanted Thoughtfist”. — Goon

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Recommended If You Like: Dead Kennedys, The Melvins, Black Flag, Minor Threat

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