City Slang, 1997

This Hole anthology is the best one out there. You could call it a timeline of Hole's music, cause all of it goes in order. This disc was only released in the UK, but I nearly shit a brick when I found it in a Blockbuster Music store. The CD consists of 14 sounds, either live, unreleased, rare, or acoustic performances. A little bit of everything for everyone.

This Hole compilation was released only in the UK in September 1997. This fact, of course, left the rest of us US fans disappointed. If you would like this CD, go to CD Now
and order it, or go search out the Blockbuster Music stores, hey you might get lucky like I did.

The cover art for the album was interesting. On it was a black babydoll dress, held up by a thin bar in a "display" case. I'm guessing that that is to explain the title of the album. The CD and inside pic is disturbing. A crashed up, mangled beyond belief car in pink background displays itself as the picture CD. It seem that the cotton of the car seats are coming out through the windows and trunk. An obvious Courtney Love creation. The CD booklet has 3 color pictures of the group, first the group from 1991, then 1994, and then "recently" in 1996. Then a detailed description of each song and the becoming of the album is in the rest of the booklet, including song credits.

The compilation was put together by Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson in early 1997. And a great job they did. All songs are written by Hole, except a few cover songs that find their way onto the album. The CD, following the timeline, begins with Hole's first recording ever.

Turpentine--This was Hole's first unreleased studio recording. It was not found on the Retard Girl or EPs for some reason. A great song, and it sounds strangely more organized than the Hole songs that came after it, like "Retard Girl" or "Phone Bill Song." Though the bridges of the songs do sound like the ones off Pretty On The Inside. The lyrics, "/bless my body and bless my soul/wrap it in turpentine/i see you standing/whatever for/." Pretty good song for a first recording.

Phone Bill Song--This song should of been on Hole's debut album. The same loud off the wall guitars and same chords can classify it as a pure "early Hole" song. The song starts out with a guy on the telephone, saying, "She's a bimbo playing on the damn phone." The lyrics are pure Courtney. "/i could really fuck you up yeah/cause I'm a demon buttercup hey hey/."

Retard Girl--This song was, or at least as pointed about by Hole's lead singer, was written about Courtney. She described it in an interview the band gave in a magazine called the Flip Side as it being a song about herself in her early days of school. She was the quietest person and she got picked on. It was a song written about "personal torment" and the feeling of "alienation." The song starts out with an easy bass line and grinds itself over and over. The lyrics, "/retard girl makes us sick/lets all poke her with a stick/well she walks funny/kind of like a pig/gotta hate that retard girl/."

Burn Black--This is a great song, with many verse and chorus lines, each overlapping the other before it. It was later, in 1994, turned into another great song, called "Whose Porno You Burn." Some of the lyrics of this song remained the same from "Burn Black", whiles others were changed. The lyrics state. "/now you complain you say you want the keys/over my dead body baby that's where they'll be/baby I burn black for you/and I'm just trying to forget/."

Dicknail--This was the second 7" vinyl record from Hole in 1991. With the B-side of "Burn Black", the "Dicknail" song was a grind of the same chords over and over for 4 minutes. The lyrics are pathetic and sad, and they seem to be at a point of view of a little girl. "/I said stop/I was a good girl/I did what you wanted/I was a good girl/I was a good girl/."

Beautiful Son--This was the April 1993 single/EP from Hole. This track was written for Kurt Cobain obviously.

20 Years In The Dakota--This song was a tribute of sorts to Yoko Ono, and her time hidden up in her apartment during her marriage to John Lennon. Great song, it can be classified as a pure pop song for Hole.

Miss World--This is a demo track, a Live Through This outtake. Courtney sounds stoned on this track. During the usual, "I made my bed I lie in it" parts of the song there is only music. No lyrics, pretty weird for a demo outtake. Great song, but the only lyrics are on the verse parts of the song, it takes some getting used to.

Old Age--This is another LTT outtake. Though this one sounds more studio qualified than the "Miss World" outtake, and more organized. The song starts out with the "Credit In The Straight World Gregorian intro, though it was originally for this "Old Age" song in the first place. The lyrics don't really differ from the Unplugged version of this song, but this studio outtake is more unharmonizing, what with Kristen Pfaff in the background only so many times.

Softer, Softest--This is one of the 3 MTV Unplugged songs on this album. Hole sounds great acoustic.

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)--This was another Unplugged song, a cover by Carole King. Courtney described it as a "sick song that we cover." The lyrics prove that to a "T". "/he hit me and it felt like a kiss/he hit me and I was glad/." Great acoustic song.

Season Of The Witch--This is another great song, another cover written by Donovan Leitch. The song describes a woman who is the eyes and gossip of a certain location. "/when I look out my window what do you think I see/a thousand other people staring straight back at me/and it's strange/must be the season of the witch/."

Drown Soda--This is one of the 2 live electric songs on the compliation. It was recorded at the 1995 Reading Festival in England. It sounds just like any other version of this song, the lyrics do not seem to change. "/it's been a long time and I'm a little annoyed/I want to fuck the whole state of Illinois/sit in the corner and drink drown soda/I want to bomb the whole state of Minnesota/."

Asking For It--Another live unreleased version song on the album. I'm not sure where it was recorded exactly, but it was recorded in 1995. The song is the new longer version, Courtney whines at the end singing. "/you know your reason for living/live through this/." An obvious reference to a certain situation. Cool live version of this song.

All in all, a brilliant compliation. Thank you Eric and Courtney.

Email: frankie_82@yahoo.com