Salt And Sauce?

I first heard Veruca Salt on a listening post in Virgin Records in Aberdeen in 1994 and was so taken with them that I bought the album "American Thighs" immediately.

The album was full of tracks featuring grungy loud guitars topped by gorgeous female vocal harmonies a sound that I am a bit of a sucker for. The two main protaganists Louise Post and Nina Gordon shared songwriting and vocal duties and the band produced a sound described by allmusic as having "reshaped the jagged, abrasive punk-pop of the Pixies and Breeders into a more accessible, riff-driven power pop formula that also borrowed from pop/hard rockers like Cheap Trick".

The single from the album, the Gordon penned "Seether", became a word of mouth success and, following the album's re-release on Geffen, an MTV favourite.



Seether from American Thighs

The second album "Eight Arms To Hold You" had a more straightforward rock sound, in the main due to the Bob Rock production, and this brought the band some criticism.

I still liked it though and the lead single from it, Volcano Girls, was also successful and remains one of my personal faves to this day.

The band now had a more glammed up image and the video budgets had also obviously increased.



Volcano Girls - "the Seether's Louise"

In 1998 following a mysterious, acrimonious fall out reputedly concerning stolen boyfriends, stabbed backs, and general unpleasantness Gordon and Post went their separate ways - Gordon to a solo career and Post continuing with the band.

Subsequent offerings from both parties have been good but have struggled to live up to the quality of the previous band output. This is a real shame as the original Veruca Salt chemistry was obviously one of those things where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

The clip below is of an acoustic rendition of Good Disaster, something a bit different from the usual rockier output and a version which highlights the beauty of the vocal harmonies.



Good Disaster - poor video quality, gorgeous sound


Links : Veruca Salt official site , Nina Gordon official site , Veruca Salt on Wikipedia