Artist – Album: Sebadoh - III
Released: 16th
August 1991
Sounds Like: Sea change
Today I want you to celebrate with me dear readers; rejoice,
for I have moved out of my old flat and in to a new one! Although there were
many wonderful memories associated with the old place and we left it as
amicably as can be expected from two such lovely people, it is quite a relief
to be out of the flat that I have shared with my ex for the last two years
(obviously she wasn’t my ex for the whole time, that would just be crazy), and
into a new one with one of my best mates.
If I needed any reminder that good things can come from painful
separation and new beginnings (I don’t), then Sebadoh’s III serves as a
brilliant reminder. In 1989, J Mascis, the freewheeling guitar genius and
leader of Dinosaur Jr kicked his bass player Lou Barlow out of the group after
he had released a cassette by his side project Sebadoh. Barlow didn’t let it
deter him however and he persevered with his other band. Two years later he released today’s
album, one of the landmarks of the alternative rock/lo -fi movement of the
early nineties and one that is still garnering acclaim twenty-plus years later.
You get the measure of the album after three tracks – the
opening ‘The Freed Pig’ is a barnstorming
slice of indie, with Dinosaur Jr-esque squealing guitars (and J Mascis
skewering lyrics); ‘Sickles and Hammers’
is a short blast of corrosive punk; and, ‘Total
Peace’ is quiet, brooding acoustic lo-fi rock. The album continues along
similarly diverse lines ‘til its end, using that triumvirate of indie, punk and
lo-fi as touchstones throughout. ‘Truly
Great Thing’ is beautiful and contented, whilst ‘Limb by Limb’ is terrifyingly aggressive.
This morning, as I was reviewing this record (i.e. listening
to it loudly), I woke my new housemate (sorry dude!). He came through blearly
eyed and scantily clad in his dressing grown, and I prepared myself for a
dressing down. Instead, he sat and enjoyed it with me, contributed his own
viewpoints (for the record, ‘Kath’ reminded
him of Willy Mason, whilst the zaniness of ‘Wonderful,
Wonderful’ brought to mind Monty Python) and generally got on with things.
You know what, kid? I think we’ll be just fine.
Albumaday... rating: 8/10
1. The Freed Pig – 3:08
2. Sickles
and Hammers – 0:50
3. Total
Peace – 3:02
4. Violet
Execution – 3:57
5. Scars,
Four Eyes – 3:27
6. Truly
Great Thing – 2:13
7. Kath
– 1:52
8. Perverted
World – 1:54
9. Wonderful,
Wonderful – 3:13
10. Limb
by Limb – 2:17
11. Smoke
a Bowl – 3:02
12. Black-Haired
Gurl – 2:12
13. Hoppin’
Up and Down – 3:16
14. Supernatural
Force – 2:43
15. Rockstar
– 2:42
16. Downmind
– 1:31
17. Renaissance
Man – 2:19
18. God
Told Me – 1:09
19. Holy
Picture – 2:53
20. Hassle
– 3:30
21. No
Different – 2:20
22. Spoiled
– 3:03
23. As
the World Dies, the Eyes of God Grow Bigger – 6:49
 |
Also released on the 16th August:
1994: Organized Konfusion – Stress: The Extinction Agenda
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