Release
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
The First Session was released as Hole's second EP, following Ask for It (1995), on August 26, 1997 and was only issued in the United States. The release almost identically coincided with the release of the band's first compilation album, My Body, the Hand Grenade, released a month later on City Slang. Three songs from The First Session later appeared on My Body, the Hand Grenade and "Johnnie's in the Bathroom" was omitted. Both albums were released during Hole's reported hiatus, due in part to Love's acting career, and during the transitional period between Live Through This (1994) and Celebrity Skin (1998).
Upon its release, the EP failed to attract much critical or commercial reception. Jason Akeny of Allmusic rated the album two and a half out of five stars, calling it "the same abrasive, barbed-wire juvenilia it's always been" and but praises "Eric Erlandson's lumpy, lurching guitar", "Courtney Love's ear-splitting screech" that "does achieve some kind of catharsis" and refers to "Johnnie's in the Bathroom" as "The Patti Smith homage."
Read more about this topic: The First Session
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