The Vaselines were a quirky little band; two Scottish musicians (Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee) who existed just long enough to produce a handful of punk/folksy/garage songs that would get them a place in history when Kurt Cobain declared them to be a favorite of his.
In fact, even if you think you’ve never heard of the Vaselines, odds are you already know a few of their songs from Nirvana’s covers of “Molly's Lips,” “Son of a Gun” and “Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam.”
My Past With The Vaselines
I first found out about the Vaselines when I got my hands on a cassette copy of The Way of the Vaselines in the early ‘90s. It was a compilation of their releases, and I was quickly endeared with the band, listening to the cassette until it suffered a warped, stretched-out painful demise.
Years later, I found The Way of the Vaselines on CD at a record store in New York, and the love affair began anew.
Now, with the release of Enter The Vaselines I have once again renewed my love for this band from Scotland. Enter The Vaselines is basically a deluxe repackaging of The Way of the Vaselines, including all of their original releases and a bonus disc of demos and live recordings.
A Sublime Balance
Essentially composed of the Kelly/McKee pairing (with additional musicians and later a full band), the band simultaneously embodied a playful innocence and a raw sexuality in all of their songs.
It’s a delicate mix that they do well, their lyrics full of double-entendres and tongue-in-cheek references, blended with guitar lines that are often as dirty as their minds.
The glue that holds all of this raunchiness together is the interplay of Kelly and McKee’s voice. Kelly’s voice is bold and occasionally gruff, and while McKee’s voice evokes the innocence of a blushing young babe, adding a subtle coyness to the songs that is incredibly cute, but never sickeningly so. Together, the play between the pairing is like peeking into a teenage summer romance.
Musically, the bands wanders from silly folksy tunes like “Rory Rides Me Raw” (Listen/Download) and “Molly’s Lips” (Listen/Download) to straight up dirty, raw rockers like “Teenage Superstars” (Listen/Download) and “Dying For It” (Listen/Download), with a singular goofy electronically inspired foray into a cover of Divine’s “You Think You’re a Man” (Listen/Download). No matter where they are on their journey of sound, though, every single track on this album is great, and brings me back to the summer I played the cassette to death with a crystal clarity.
Bounus Material Could Offer More
The bonus disc was a bit of a disappointment; while you do get demos of a few new songs “Rosary Job” and “Red Poppy,” they are pretty rough. And of the two live sets (a 1986 show from Bristol and a 1998 set from London), only the London set is really listenable – the Bristol recording is really too raw to waste your time with. Still the London set grew on me quickly, stemming from an era where the Vaselines were using a full band, and blasting a heavier Stooges-styled brand of garage punk, and inexplicably playing “The Day I Was A Horse” twice through (featuring different lyrics than the original release).
Even so, with the band back together and playing some sets (their cancelled appearance at SXSW was one I was really looking forward to and disappointed to miss out on), would it have been too much to get some new material on here? I’m not asking for much, maybe one or two new songs, or at least fleshed-out versions of the unreleased demos?
As a whole, this release is a great way to introduce yourself to some lesser-known punk legends. If you’ve never heard the Vaselines, by all means pick this up. If you do own The Way of the Vaselines and have casual feelings for it, don’t bother with the bonus material. But if you’re like me, and have always loved the band, you’ll probably find some diamonds in the rough on the bonus disc, no matter how rough they may be.
Release Date: May 5, 2009
