Green River - Rehab Doll / Dry as a Bone

 Well, this is where all began as far as the grunge movement is concerned. Of course, that's my personal opinion, but whether it is the begining of grunge or not, this band was a major influence to the legendary Seattle-based scene that was about to conquer the world few years later. This is a compilation of their first two EPs and I'm reviewing it as a single album cause I think they match perfectly. You're not going to hear something innovating or unprecedented. The music is simple, yet no boring, up-beat and groovy with an old-school, well presented by the average production vibe. The band members obviously know how to play their instruments and manage to keep it far from technical wankeries. The guitar solos are a highlight of the album because of their perfect matching with the rest of the music, and so are the vocals(e.g."Baby Takes") . They are handled by Mark Arm, well-known for being the main-man of grunge legends Mudhoney. Mark, as he'd do later, hands out an amazing perfomance, filled with emotions like anger and passion, feelings that could not be described in a better way than his screams. Of course, we can clearly hear the influence of drugs throughout many songs, but that's not anything special. The lyrics contain plenty of themes such drug abuse, personal issues and struggles, love and humour. Overall it is an amazing execution of -let's say- typical alternative rock, a personal favorite of mine and a great, I mean GREAT, influence to bands as Mudhoney, Nirvana and the grunge movement in its entirety.
Highlights: "This Town", "P.C.C.", "Unwind", "Baby Takes", "Searching", "Forever Means", "Smillin' and Dyin' ", " One More Stitch" ( damn I like this band a fuckin' lot. )
Also, you can here the whole compilation here.