 
Until recently, the Melvins have never been a band to look backwards. They have always pushed themselves further away form where they once were that looking back was counterproductive. No time for sentimental journeys. In the last few years, however, that has changed as they've been re-releasing some of their earliest work on their current label, Ipecac (1986's 10 Songs (re-released as 26 Songs) and 1987' Gluey Porch Treatments). Whether this is due to the band finally acknowledging their past or just to head off the bootleg market is up for debate. Interestingly, this has all been going on while the Melvins have been treading water in the studio, releasing one so-so album after another. Although hardly sentimental, Mangled Demos is the bands earliest recordings.
So early, in fact, that it may come as a surprise for those who care
that Dale Crover was not the band's original drummer. Mike Dillard sat
first and holds up a lot better than you would think since Crover's
shadow in the drum world is lager than most. The band's revolving door
of bassists is as legendary as it is frustrating but future Mudhoney
bassist, Matt Lukin, was their first. With his rolling notes and perfect
tone serving as a perfect foil for Buzz Osborne's hard, flat riffs.
Lukin still holds his place as one of the groups best bottom enders. At this early stage, these guys had a power few bands possess. Already the Melvins are confident, self-deprecating and funny: all the attributes that have set them apart from the rest of the pack for well over twenty years. "Run Around", "Matt-Alec" "The Real You" (sounding suspiciously close to Bad Brains' "I") each song a step out of town, each song containing a snotty, snarling vocal from Osborne clearly reflecting his distaste for his surroundings. Not surprisingly it's an early take of "Set Me Straight" that is the standout song here. First of all it's slower than anything else on the CD. This song wouldn't officially see the light of day until it was recorded for the band's major label debut, Houdini in 1993, ten years later. Besides the obvious recording improvements the two versions hardly differ. That said, the band hasn't changed much. These are the seeds to the rock anarchism that was to grow in the years to come. Secondly, while most of the tracks show the band as they were at the time they were recorded, "Set Me Straight" illustrates where the band was headed, despite the fact that it would be only Osborne from this line-up to see the group through it's changes. Slower music, abstract lyrics and a brilliantly dark melody to stick in yer craw for the rest of the day. Dynamo. What may be the best part, however, is Osborne's liner notes for this release. Hilarious accounts of growing up punk in a small redneck logging town in the northwestern part of the Northwest; the corner of the corner of the country. Writes Osborne: "I find it curious that I can remember in great detail random events and situations of over twenty years ago but from that same time period I can't remember fine points like HOW we recorded this record." There is the tale of a friend's father who was a Washington State Patrolman that kept a bag of confiscated weed in his closet.gossip and hilariously harsh criticism dealing with a certain member of Metal Church.Dillards' older sister who would buy the young brats alcohol.it's all here in a glorious, brutally frank voice that only Osborne can deliver. Surprisingly good stuff coming form a band that rarely gives straight answers during interviews. Also included are great "spoken word" tracks as well. Radio broadcasts of the band playing their local Elks Lodge Christmas Fundraiser and a snippet of a rehearsal where the obnoxious boys jokingly argue over a hamburger, swear, gossip and swear some more. Anyone in a high school band knows exactly what this is like. Getting together with friends, playing music, getting bored, goofing on each other. It's refreshing to see a rock behemoth such as the Melvins showing such a vulnerable side to their normally gruff exterior. That a little band in a go-nowhere town can go as far at they have must give credence to any young rocker's dreams. Mangled Demos finds a legendary band in what may be their purest form: young and naïve. These are by-the-book old school punk songs with out the minimalistic, Dada tricks that were soon to follow. This is a band just on the cusp of sheer, unmatched musical creativity. Soon they would be so far ahead of their time that, as the saying goes, they would be standing right behind you. - Andrew Lau
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Melvins