Hole – Pretty on the Inside Review

Pretty on the Inside, Hole’s first album, is one of the most grossly forgotten grunge albums of the early 90s. While it was acclaimed by the underground in its time, it’s basically been forgotten. Not shocking, though, since the band (and most female-lead bands of the time) never get the respect they deserve from the more indie-oriented grunge scene. And it’s even less surprising that the mainstream press ignored it. There’s barely slightest hint of a pop sensibility on the surface, unlike Nirvana’s Bleach, which at least had “About a Girl” (and still got no coverage). There are few hints of future hits like “Doll Parts.”

The album shows Hole at a very experimental time, with two noise collages, one of which includes an angry telephone message from Inger Lorre of the Nymphs (”Sassy”) and the other which has a snippet of one of the earliest songs Courtney ever wrote (”Best Sunday Dress” on ”Star Belly”). Not to mention the two songs “Garbadge Man” and “Loaded” that have 30-second Sonic Youth-y noise experiments at the end.

The music on Pretty on the Inside is greatly influenced by noise rock such as The Jesus Lizard’s forefathers Big Black and Sonic Youth, and to an equal degree early heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath, disguising metal riffs in a wash of feedback and good old-fashioned guitar noise. The lyrics are easily the best part of the album. The overall tour-de-force would have to be “Mrs. Jones” a dizzying tale about rape and disease that includes so many interesting musical ideas in its five and a half minutes I could write  a whole article about it, and the immediate favorite is most likely “Garbadge Man” because of its more accessible structure and poignant screaming.

“Teenage Whore” is a forgettable opener, and the album’s first and only single, which seems strange as it’s easily the worst song on the album. “Babydoll” has an extremely catchy guitar riff. Next is “Garbadge Man,” the album’s best song, and Hole’s first ever video. Do yourselves a favor and download the rerecorded video version of this song. It’s without a question an improvement, darkening it up and removing the annoying voice crack in the chorus. And the album ends with a solemn re-imagining of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” that ties everything together before it fades out.

The weakest parts are the drumming and the mix. The drumming isn’t bad by any means, and on certain songs (”Babydoll”) it’s even pretty hooky, but on some, like “Mrs. Jones,” the drummer should’ve been thrashing along with the guitar, but shows too much restraint. However, this is probably due to the mix, which pushes the drums far behind the guitars instead of using them as the foundation that gave Steve Albini’s recordings such power. The mix itself has certain strengths and weaknesses. The worst parts are the extreme lack of bass in most songs and the low drum mix. However, there are some interesting ideas, such as the way Eric and Courtney’s guitars mesh, almost causing Courtney’s ice pick sound to be its own type of percussion.

The compositions are also very interesting. A lot of the songs start off with Courtney’s playing, all treble and no bass -very reminiscent of Big Black and even the Stooges’ Raw Power era, and then plunges into Eric’s more Sabbath-esque guitar, which eventually degenerates to the point that the original riffs are no longer recognizable. The songs are also really long. Almost half of them are at or near five minutes, but after a few listens they become incredibly catchy. The lengths allow for an interesting structure, where the songs stumble, turn on themselves and sometimes sputter into odd endings (or in the case of “Mrs. Jones” a shockingly beautiful mock 60’s girl group bridge). It’s a really interesting effect that allows the album to reflect the whirlpool of despair that LA was at the time.

Honestly, Pretty on the Inside is Hole’s best album. The interesting thing about it is how effectively it proves the band’s intent (and title): without any obvious (some might say cheap) attractiveness, few people will take the time and energy required to truly appreciate it. As it stands, it’s not much more than a footnote that both Eric and Courtney acknowledge as something of an embarrassment in the rest of their catalogue. The sad fact is, there are spectacular and unique melodies under all the anger and noise, and many have missed out on them.

Hole continued to get more and more pop-oriented until they were basically indistinguishable from all the other boring bands of the late 90’s, whining incessantly with the same early 90’s narrow-minded cynical selfishness but without the same insanity and energy, too rich and bored to have any problems that anyone but a celebrity could relate to. It’s a shame Hole didn’t continue on the punk path, because for a very short time, they were more punk than Nirvana.

Buy the CD at Amazon.com

~ by infinitously on August 11, 2008.