Only CDs Is Sounding Like These # 27: V/A, “The Trip” (1993)

A new occasional series — CDs are coming back baby! And I’m here for it. BIGTIME! Also, some albums just REALLY suit the format, right

It defined my high school years. And my undergrad time at university — which was a mess, though that’s not the fault of this compilation. At least not entirely.

The Trip was put out in 1993 by Warner Music, exclusive to NZ — and to this day people call for a vinyl reissue, people still have dubbed cassette copies, or CD-Rs, it’s hard to find. A handful of people have retained the copies they bought or were gifted 30 years ago, and when it does show up in second hand stores it’s like a precious cargo for those that know.

It introduced a great many of us to a bunch of tunes and to music that was at the slightly ‘heavier’ / ‘cooler’ end of the commercial ‘alternative’ scale. the best songs by a bunch of name bands, with one or two more obscure than others. And a few of the unknown bands that would go on to become favourites. Even the Red Hot Chili Peppers were here correctly represented (by a song from one of the Wayne’s World films, right?) And that was part of the magic — a few non-album tracks, a few different versions…

It was the little things like the “Remix” version of Jesus Built My Hotrod, and the live version of Rollins Band to finish, and particularly the ‘medley’ of Porno For Pyros’ Cursed Male/Cursed Female — essentially fusing two songs into one. These were the things you could not get quite like this, and obviously not in this perfectly curated order, on the original albums. The way the Porno for Pyros track was just two songs sandwiched together like how Genesis always played Home By The Sea/Second Home By The Sea as one big live song. Just perfect. But it means that the playlist versions and home-built copies have a pause between the tracks, unless someone accessed the original version of The Trip.

There were about a dozen compilations in the end. I liked Volume 2 but it was starting to soften. I stuck around for volumes three and four too — Vol. 3 felt a bit harder and included some Kiwi tracks for memory. Volume 4 was almost cheesy, but wonderful for it. After that I could barely care. And when it comes down to it, I only really care about the one I have retained — the original.

It has probably accompanied me on more road trips than any other compact disc — with the probable exception of Pure Cult: for Rockers, Ravers, Lovers, and Sinners (by The Cult). So perfect was The Trip for, um, trips, that the clue was right there in its very title.

When I first bought The Trip I was brand new to CD buying — and I had a few of things on here on cassette tape already (the Rage Against The Machine album for instance). I also had some of the second albums than this reminded me to ‘go back’ to the debut: Smashing Pumpkins being the perfect example — this sent me to Gish, because I already had (and loved) Siamese Dream. And then sometimes The Trip really was enough. I do love L7, the Nymphs, and Mudhoney. I did learn about them here. But in the full scheme of things maybe all I ever needed from these bands is the song I first heard and have here; the song that represents them best is on this very comp.

You also liked seeing things you already knew about being involved; liked to think that it was going to introduce the likes of Sonic Youth and Helmet to others. They’d be catching up. Just as you were catching up on other artists collected here.

And there was something so perfect about the way this was built, opening with Soundgarden’s Outshined, closing with Ministry and Rollins Band, and in between we went all over the place, via Temple of the Dog (cooler than Pearl Jam, and basically bonus extra Soundgarden!) and Dinosaur Jr (for emotion) and Babes in Toyland and Butthole Surfers for mad clout!

Something about The Trip just makes perfect sense as a CD, of that era and for that format. I’m glad I never parted with my original copy of The Trip. I love it to this day.