Soundgarden - Ultramega OK [2LP]

Soundgarden's 1988 debut album Ultramega OK returns as a remixed double LP, paired with a set of early versions that show the band finding its feet.

Released on SST just as Seattle's underground was starting to rumble, the record captured Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil, Hiro Yamamoto and Matt Cameron at their most feral, mixing Black Sabbath sludge, punk velocity and psychedelic detours. The band were never satisfied with how it originally sounded, so Jack Endino, a key architect of the city's sound, went back to the original tapes to give it the weight it deserved.

"Flower", the album's only single, opens with a droning, Eastern-tinged guitar figure before slamming into one of Cornell's early howls. "Beyond the Wheel" shows off his astonishing range, swinging from a menacing low growl to a skyscraping wail, and the band's lumbering take on Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning" proves they knew their blues. The six early versions offer a raw glimpse of the songs taking shape.

It is rough around the edges, which is exactly the appeal: the sound of a band about to change heavy music. The album also earned Soundgarden their first Grammy nomination, an early sign of things to come.

For grunge collectors, this is the definitive way to hear where it all began.