Soundgarden Treat 'Louder Than Love' and 'Down on the Upside' to Vinyl Reissues

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Jul 7, 2016

Soundgarden's reissue period continues to bloom, with the treasured Seattle grunge vets now set to deliver new vinyl editions of 1989 major label debut Louder Than Love and 1996's sonics-experimenting Down on the Upside. Both are due back on vinyl come August 26 via UMe.

While Soundgarden last left listeners with the archives-scouring Echo of Miles: Scattered Tracks Across the Path box, the upcoming 180-gram vinyl reissues preserve the albums just as they had initially appeared.

Louder Than Love had originally been delivered through A&M Records and was the follow-up to their final indie effort, 1987's Ultramega OK. Louder was recorded with producer Terry Date at Seattle's London Bridge Studios and marked the final album session with longtime bassist Hiro Yamamoto. He would complete the record with his bandmates, but would leave the act a month ahead of a tour to go back to school. For a time, he was replaced by Nirvana's Jason Everman, though Soundgarden eventually linked up with Ben Shepherd.

Louder Than Love produced singles "Loud Love," "Hands All Over" and "Get on the Snake." Guns N' Roses, with whom Soundgarden would tour with in the '90s, covered the record's "Big Dumb Sex" on their 1993 set, The Spaghetti Incident? The recordings have been remastered for this single LP repress.

Now marking its 20th anniversary, Down on the Upside was released in 1996, following the mega-success of 1994's Superunknown. It's noted that the album was "a significant stylistic departure away from alternative metal into a more experimental sound," with psych-styled first single "Pretty Noose" being more than a fair assessment of this line of thought. Other singles included explosive head-trips "Blow Up the Outside World" and "Burden in My Hand." The album went on to sell 1.6 million copies in the U.S. alone, though the band would implode while promoting the collection and called it quits in 1997.

Of course, Soundgarden would regroup in 2010 and produce comeback album King Animal in 2012.

You'll find videos for "Loud Love" and "Pretty Noose" below.

In related news, it was recently revealed that bassist Ben Shepherd's psych-garage outfit Hater were having their self-titled debut reissued this summer as well. The first-ever vinyl pressing of the collection lands July 15 via UMe.

Louder Than Love:

1. Ugly Truth
2. Hands All Over
3. Gun
4. Power Trip
5. Get on the Snake
6. Full on Kevin's Mom
7. Loud Love
8. I Awake
9. No Wrong No Right
10. Uncovered
11. Big Dumb Sex
12. Full On (Reprise)

Down on the Upside:

1. Pretty Noose
2. Rhinosaur
3. Zero Chance
4. Dusty
5. Ty Cobb
6. Blow Up the Outside World
7. Burden in My Hand
8. Never Named
9. Applebite
10. Never the Machine Forever
11. Tighter & Tighter
12. No Attention
13. Switch Opens
14. Overfloater
15. An Unkind
16. Boot Camp



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