Saturday, October 17, 2009

Trouble

I don't give a fuck what you think, Trouble's 1990 self-titled Def American major label sellout album is a fine piece of work. I had a hard time finding it so I figured it was prime Hearse fodder. Considering how it was pressed into the millions and sold very little, you'd think that copies would be jockeying for cut-out bin space alongside albums by Joey Lawrence and Hammer. The production is standard bone dry Rick Rubin, but Trouble shines through with Franklin and Wartell's gooey resin tones and Wagner's signature wail. A little bit of Jesus, a whole lot of stale bongwater, and a throwaway cover of "Psychotic Reaction." Rubin believed these dudes should of been bigger, and I tend to agree, so what happened?

38 comments:

Chris said...

Great album. I even like the "Psychotic Reaction" cover. They haven't done an album I don't like though I haven't heard and don't want to hear their Unplugged album.

JoeP said...

Killer record, saw them several times during this era, sooooo good! I wish there were more pop records this heavy and hooky. Huzzah!

Anonymous said...

Fucking great band. I don't know why they are so overlooked. This and Psalm 9 are the best couple of doom albums I've ever heard.

Did you know that that joker from Warrior Soul is singing with them now? Tsk...

Petya V said...

brilliant band, great album

Anonymous said...

Aesop, do you have any Joey Lawrence?

On a serious note, does anybody know where I can hook up with any albums by Muscle Bitches? I have had their Accept cover in my collection for years and been meaning to find more.

Humdinger said...

Yes!
I'm going to a church bazar here in Montreal in a few hours. Do they have those in SF? It's like Sally Anne and old gothic churches selling brownies and dusty records. Sort of sums up this Trouble album to me.Crusty, odd and Jesus...
Praise!
rmm

Icky said...

Saw them years ago with Destruction AND Cro-Mags.
This record fucking KILLS.
I tend to like the sound of a Rick Rubin mix; you can't really hide, ya know?
This was definitely one of his best mixes.
I can't belive these guys would let Kory Klarke's Dude Ranch front the band, but then again, alot of things change over time.
Godd stuff, A.
EVERYONE should own this.

ben said...

probably because every article on them during that time frame mentioned the jesus angle at some point. i'm sure most people had stryperitis and stayed away as opposed to actually using their ears to make the decision.

i had the tape of this and remember really digging it and when i found a cd a couple of years ago, i was shocked by how bad rubin made it sound. if the guitars weren't so heavy, it would almost be unlistenable.

theheft said...

This album rules. I'm glad I got to see Trouble live with the original singer!

Phantom Hugger said...

Yep I saw them fairly recently with that joker. Terrible. Thankfully the band played some instrumentals and extended bits sans warrior soul.

mike said...

Great band!I saw them open for the Ramones. I have never seen a crowd spit on a band so much,my punker buddies did not like them at all.I think I was the only person at that show who knew any of their songs.Did some coke with the bass player a few years ago........

patrock said...

"Psychotic Reaction" is not a cover, they just stole the title. Even allmusic has it listed as a cover by the Count Five.

The Count Five
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzdNltWfRw4

Trouble
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE3b4TFecws

this album is in my top 10

patrock

Anonymous said...

"psychotic reaction" isn't a cover.

ümlaut said...

Nice! The first time Trouble came to The Bay Area they supported Megadeth (who had Kerry King on 2nd guitar..):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/umlaut555/351693269/

Both bands only had demos out at the time.

Aesop said...

My bad. I thought "Psychotic Reaction" was a cover.

Dan Fitch said...

UNBELIEVABLE. I have been looking for this for a while. Psalm 9 blew my mind. Can't wait to hear this.

GO GOD GO!

Anonymous said...

This and "Run to the Light" are great. I have the vinyl of this and I swear it is the thinest 12" record I have ever seen. If there was no Trouble there would of never been Confessor. NC word!

prunalogsusan said...

you guys are crazy

Alcolm X said...

After the craptastic production on Run To The Light, having Rubin at the helm was a revelation (pun intended). Too bad since Manic Frustration the band's been in a bit of a repetitive rut... cool rut, but enough already. I seem to be the only person who thinks that Kory Clark might be a good thing for TROUBLE... shake things up a bit!

MP Roget said...

Thanks Aesop, I have been after this for a while.

Anonymous said...

havent seen this before, thanks for making it available

Mike in Australia

Anonymous said...

Nirvana happened.

Steven said...

I freekin LOVE this album. "The Wolf", fuck yeah.

I suspect Eric's vocals weren't rock-god enough. If he had sounded more exaggerated, like, oh, I don't know, Chris Cornell maybe...

Bad Bad Lubavitch said...

I've got this on cassette and vinyl, and it sounds fucking great on both. It took me a while to come around to it but fuck, what a great album. Great taste as always, Aesop.

Harry said...

This is the best Trouble album. There, I said it!

Aaron said...

Forgot about this one. Making work go by a little faster this morning...

Anonymous said...

Easily the best Trouble album. it's too bad most people hated this style of music when this thing came out. I've seen them live many times and they fucking ruled. Psychotic Reaction? Are you f'ing kidding me? If you're going to do a blog where all you do is copy and paste other peoples work you might want to do some research first you knucklehead. RIP Barry Stern

Aesop said...

I do a little more than copy and paste others work, douchewand, but thanks for commenting.

Tyler said...

I didn't know Home & Garden did a doom metal issue. I'm downloading this tonight.

Anonymous said...

NICE! I was just reading and article on them and thought... I need to get some Trouble.
Thanks!!

clint b said...

One of my old bands was trapped in Tacoma on a day off from tour a few years ago and I found this gem on vinyl in a dusty old record store for a coupla bucks. It was a Trouble album I wasn't familiar with, and didn't know what to expect. Encamped in some friends' living room, passing the bong, we noticed not a dull riff to be found! The torrential northwestern rains of winter poured outside and we listened to it over and over again.

Anonymous said...

As an Aussie into this band I was immensely fortunate to see them on tour for this very LP in Tampa, a very small almost unattended gig really, so it was more personal, just like one of the old videos from 1985 or something. GRAND dudes all and a very special album being the new production and heavy rock radio rotation without really losing the band's intengrity. Great stuff! Had the vynil and a coke head I knew sold it while I was out of town for just a few bucks towards his gloriois '8 ball'. Thank you for posting this!

Anonymous said...

This is a sweet blog. It's a shame a couple of the comments were written by tools. Nice one.

Anonymous said...

The Skull is far superior! THE WISH!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this. Love it!

Crypt Orchid Cables said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Crypt Orchid Cables said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Crypt Orchid Cables said...

Man, I love this album. I also had a hard time finding it. I definitely paid too much to get it, as well. What the hell. It's worth having. This album rules. I had an old copy, but somewhere in the years it disappeared. I remember I got this album the same day I bought Masters of Reality's S/T album. That was a good day.