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"This is the Big Black reunion song!" *goes into White Cross*
....He says in the interview they're still friends, I think he explained himself quite thoroughly in a sense, but it would have been nice if he had been more specific about the problems he had with the band.. I'm guessing it has to do with Chuck D on Kool Thing (though he really doesn't do much at all) and then the Butch Vig superslick production of Dirty/Jet Set is probably the stuff that rubbed him the wrong way; I seem to remember Albini having a problem with Butch Vig and his production styles -- don't forget there are drum samples on Dirty, too. I think Albini saw it all as a bit slick and, I dunno, CREDIBILITY-HURTING, or something.
The thing is, though... Jet Set is probably their weirdest batch of songs ever! Even if it's "slick" -- that album's crazy! I think a lot of what they did was with good intentions, with good humor involved -- "CORPORATE GHOST"... also, fuck, they were making money off of making highly idiosynchratic, sometimes downright weird music... that's amazing. Isn't that the American dream? Albini was probably referencing SY doing Dirty and having Butch and trying to ride the grunge thing or whatever, but maybe not. Again, it's hard to comment when he himself wasn't specific.
Anyone remember when Albini slammed the Pixies a ton, and then later said he regretted it (he also later said Kim Deal is the greatest female songwriter of all time). He also regretted the stuff he said about the Jesus Lizard... with Albini, it's all about integrity, "sticking it to the corporates", ethics.. you know. I guess. That's the image he projects anyway.
As for Albini recording bands for cheap, I'm not sure -- Electrical Audio has really great rates, but they do have pretty flat rates. However, he said before that would record whole albums by bands in his house for $200 for a few days' worth of work -- mainly if he liked the band or whatever.
I dunno. It all seems so silly to me, him being 40+ years old and still caring so much about a punk spirit, and "the trouble with music" and all that, I mean the music "business" is something he isn't even a part of.
Either way, he's my favorite producer of all time, and one of my favorite musicians of all time. And I've always thought it'd be neat if SY and Albini would work together on an album. Doubt that'll ever happen now.
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