Dear Friends,
Let’s see what Friday will hold. Hoping for a good show and a fun time for people. Hopefully Liam enjoys himself, too. That’s what I hope for.
*****
I think I riled up some of my team yesterday and that’s okay. They will figure out that I’m doing it to make them look good eventually. Some people are just so resistant to any change that it is painful.
I don’t want anyone to have to work too hard, but it wouldn’t hurt them, either.
*****
Go out and rule this Friday, people.
*****
It’s really difficult to choose another Sebadoh record to write about. I love them all, but I have to go with III. When I found out about the band, I dug in deep. I went to see them every time they came to Phoenix, and I bought all the CDs and records I could find. It really is (and was) love.
I can’t remember when I got this one, III, but when I did, I couldn’t tell people fast enough how great I thought it was. I probably owe some people an apology for how much I talked about Sebadoh from 1992 to 1998. They were top five for me in those years.
I’ve been thinking about why I love them so much a lot lately. It’s a bit of a conundrum. I have never stopped loving Sebadoh. My bro crush on Lou Barlow is as strong as ever, but for a long time, I didn’t listen to them very much.
What I figured out was this: During the years that I was a devout Sebadoh fan, I leaned on them to get me through some really tough emotional times. Sebadoh was a go to band for me when I was in a tough place and I think I grew to associate them with emotional pain.
There was a time when I might have thought that this would please Lou Barlow, but after meeting him even briefly a few years ago, I’m guessing he would not be pleased about it. He would be honored, maybe, that the music he, Jason Loewenstein, and in this case, Eric Gaffney, made was so influential to me and helpful. I don’t think he wants anyone to suffer, though.
Those were tough years. Being 22 years old is no picnic. That’s how old I was when I started collecting Sebadoh CDs. Damn. Lots of miles on these records and I.
“The Freed Pig” kicks things off and it is so hopeful. It’s a song about Barlow’s relationship with J. Mascis, who was Barlow’s ex-bandmate at the time. Of course, now that Barlow is back in Dinosaur Jr., it’s all good and things are happy and rosy again.
There is a great line in the song that just slays me. “Now you will be free/with no sick people tuggin’ on your sleeve/your big had has more room to grow/a glory I will never know.” Fucking vicious. It’s a great start to a record that is truly all over the place.
Sebadoh covers the Minutemen next with “Sickles and Hammers.” It’s a rad little cover, too. Not the easiest song to cover if you listen closely.
“Total Peace” is an acoustic song. I dig it.
“Violet Execution” is a Gaffney song. It’s cool, as well. One of the great things about Sebadoh is that all the guys contributed songs, but it still always sounded like the same band.
“Scars, Four Eyes” is a Gaffney/Barlow collaboration. It’s a bit meditative and has a little psychedelic side to it. Good stuff.
“Truly Great Thing” is another Barlow acoustic song. I needed these songs so badly back then. They felt like someone else new what I was feeling. Thank you, Lou.
“Kath” kind of reminds me of an Ed Hall riff, actually. Maybe they are just on my mind right now, but there is some similar stuff happening here. As I listen, I can now really hear how much influence this record and Sebadoh Vs. Helmet had on how I try to play acoustic guitar.
“Perverted World” is another sad Barlow song. Good stuff. Kinda pretty.
‘Wonderful, Wonderful” is a deconstruction of a song made famous by Johnny Mathis. It’s delightfully weird.
“Limb by Limb” is another Gaffney song. It’s sounds a bit like a King Missile song. Very New York-ish weirdo pop. Dig it.
‘Smoke a Bowl” is the first Loewenstein song on III. It’s not unlike what smoking good weed does to your brain. I’m guessing he was plenty high when he came up with this one. It’s a bit noisy, bit jazzy, and a lot disjointed.
“Black Haired Gurl” is also Loewenstein. It’s got a little Alex Chilton thing going on in the beginning. That has my attention immediately. It’s also kind of pretty in a weird way. I like the way it was recorded.
“Hoppin’ Up and Down” is maybe my favorite track on the whole thing. It’s just this killer guitar riff and the way it swells in the beginning before the killer riff starts had me from the get-go. I wanted to be in a band that sounded like this so badly when I first heard this song. It fucking rules.
So simple and just so good. “Time to dose.”
“Supernatural Force” never gets it due from me because I am ready to turn off the record after “Hoppin’ Up and Down.” It’s just not as good as its predecessor. Sounds a little like a heavy by Beat Happening.
“Rockstar” is another meditative one that’s got a little Velvet Underground thing going on with some Ween overtones.
“Downmind” is Barlow being a little sad again, but kind of weird about it. It’s probably one that has made a few people say, “what the fuck?” over the years.
“Renaissance Man” is clever as hell. It’s almost like Barlow is saying to writers like me to shut the fuck up.
“God Told Me” is finally some punk rock stuff. People forget these guys cut their teeth on the punk rock.”
“Holy Picture” is a cool Gaffney song. I love the way the guitar sounds.
“Hassle” is another Barlow bummer. I loved it back in the early 90s. Now I skip it.
‘No Different” is the same as “Hassle.”
“Spoiled” is another one that is just tacked on at the end. Now I am remembering why I didn’t often finish this whole disc.
“As the World Dies, the Eyes of God Grow Bigger” is one of the 90s songs where the band just put it on the CD because they could. They probably giggled about it and cringe now. This one is sort of interesting.
III is still great, though, and if you like Sebadoh, you should listen to it. If you consider yourself an Emo fan, you should listen to it, too. You might learn something, although this is pretty mild on the Sebadoh emo scale.
*****
See you tomorrow.
weird, ai. weird.
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