Soundgarden

A-Sides (A&M)
by Nik Rainey

Soundgarden‘s A-Sides , which helpfully proceeds chronologically from their SubPop/SST genesis to a collector-baiting outtake from their high-profile swan song, Down on the Upside, moots the conventional up-from-underground wisdom that citymates Nirvana already disproved. In other words, here’s an indie band that hitched a ride on the corporate juggernaut and actually got much better. The Screaming Life and Ultramega OK cuts that open the album aren’t far removed from the sludgier metal gumming up the mainstream at the time of their initial release; the sextet from their first two A&M albums demonstrates a marked improvement in riff-stringing-as-songwriting; and the last half, encompassing their well-belated burst into platinum prominence, is a faultless hydrogen jukebox of tightened structures, improved dynamics, and even a sense of humor that pulls itself out of the tar pit of dour apocalyptica in which they made their bones: “Ty Cobb,” not actually an A-side but a welcome ringer nonetheless, is a frighteningly goofy alloy of punkish thrash, cheerful profanity, and, uh… banjo. Eek. (And if bored, you can count up the references to snakes – for sheer number, methinks they rival Morrison’s.)