Sebadoh

Dinosuar Jr got me thinking of Sebadoh, and a couple of others asked about them too, and happy to
oblige, they were a good lo-fi slacker band from the early 1990's, formed by bassist Low Barlow after he was dismissed from Dinosaur Jr.....quite a solid lineup, definitley, during their peak years with Barlow, noise-guitarist Eric Gafney and talented multi-instrumentalist Jason Lowenstien,they specialized in short, lo-fi recordings of contrasting styles (Barlow's folky pop vs Gaffney's guitar freakouts), thier first releases were cassettes (MOST of which are coupled here as "Freed Weed") "Weed Forrestin"" and "The Freed Man", the title of the latter referring to Barlow's liberation from Dinosaur Jr. After Lowenstien joined up, they released Sebadoh III, an absolutley stunning collection of songs, and one of the (fairly) unknown classics of the early 1990's.....I know some of you guys like to just sample one album out of my posts, and if that's you, TRUST ME this is the one you want, you'll be thrilled. Barlow contributes some outstanding songs, such as "The Freed Pig", "Spoiled", and "Kath", but that is to sell Gaffney and Lowenstien's contributions short, a wonderful five star effort, should be MUCH more appreciated than it is today.

In light of "III'S" relative acceptance, "Smash Your Head On the Punk Rock" was released, consisting of highlight tracks from a couple of import EP's, standouts "Everybody's Been Burned" and the way cool "Brand New Love",(even a cover of Nick Drake's "Pink Moon") also quite recommended.....the next proper release would be 1993's "Bubble and Scrape", which features perhaps the band's best track "Soul and Fire"...."Bubble and Scrape" is the last album before Gaffney left, and is really the last "essential" disc they would release, although 1994's "Bake Sale", with the fine single "Skull", is no slouch either, I've also got "Harmacy" here, too, but things were on the way down by then (1996), I know they have sporadically released recordings as well as side projects since, and I think continue in some form even today, but I haven't cared for what I've heard......could be wrong though, I'm not an expert on the post-"Bake Sale" stuff.

Also available is a weird odds and ends collection of singles and B-sides, entitled, well "Singles and B Sides" (includes the fab "Gimme Indie Rock"), which, I think, if you checked this one out, as well as the stuff listed above, you probably have all of the good material they had in their pipeline.
Guided By Voices and Pavement, for example, have had much more success than did Sebadoh, but Sebadoh is on that same general level.....highly talented musicianship (Lowenstien has contributed some to one of my faves, The Firey Furnaces), wonderful songs, some really good stuff, in the overall picture, MUCH underappreciated. If you are unfamilia, at least do me a favor and try out "III", if you like it venture on from there......this is good, representative music of that specific era, and a lot of folks haven't heard it.....a fine collection os stuff here, don't let me down and ignore it, I KNOW you guys are more open-minded than THAT!!!!!

III-01 The Freed Pig/02 Sickles and Hammers/03 Total Peace/04 Violent Execution/05 Scars, Four
Eyes/06 Truly Great Things/07 Kath/08 Perverted World/09 Wonderful Wonderful/10 Limb By Limb/11 Smoke a Bowl/12 Black-Haired Girl/13 Hoppin' Up and Down/14 Supernatural Force/15 Rock Star/16 Downmind/17 Renaissance Man/18 God Told Me/19 Holy Picture/20 Hassle/21 No Different/22 Spoiled/23 As The World Dies, The Eyes of God Grow Bigger

SMASH YOUR HEAD ON THE PUNK ROCK-01 Crisis/02 Brand New Love/03 Notsur Dnoura Selcric/04 Vampire/05 Good Things/06 Cecilia Chime in Melee/07 Everybody's Been Burned/08 Junk Bonds/09 New Worship/10 Mean Distance/11 Pink Moon/12 Mind Meld

FREED WEED-01 Temporary Dream/02 New Worship/03 Subtle Holy Gift/04  My Own Religion/05 Ride the Darker Wave/06 More Simple/07 Jealous of Jesus/08 Mr Genius Eyes/09 Perfect Power/10 Feeding Evil/11 Sexual Confession/12 Three Times a Day/13 Gate To Hell/14 Broken/15 Whitey Peach/16 I Can't See/17 Take My Hand/18 Pound My Skinny Head/19 I Believe In Fate/20 Waited Forever/21 Slightest Suggstion/22 It's So Hard to Fall In Love/23 Brand New Love/24 Burning Out/25 Little Man/26 Punch In the Nose/27 Loose 'n Screw/28 Jealous Evil/29 Moldy Bread/30 Bridge Was You/31 Bolder/32 True Hardcore/33 Stop the Wheel/34 Made Real/35 Level Anything/36 Soul Mate/37 Nest/38 Narrow Stories/39 Submarine/40 Wall of Doubt/41 Crumbs

BUBBLE AND SCRAPE-01 Soul and Fire/02 Two Years Two Days/03 Telecosmic Alchemy/04 Fantastic Disaster/05 Happily Divided/06 Sister/07 Cliche/08 Sacred Attention/09 Elixir Is Zog/10 Emma Get Wild/11 Sixteen/12 Homemade/13 Forced Love/14 No Way Out/15 Bouquet For a Siren/16 Think (Let Tomorrow Bee)/17 Flood

BAKESALE-01 License To Confuse/02 Careful/03 Magnet's Coil/04 Not a Friend/05 Not Too
Amused/06 Dreams/07 Skull/08 Got It/09 Shit Soup/10 Give Up/11 Rebound/12 Mystery Man/13 Temptation Tide/14 Drama Mine/15 Together of Alone

HARMACY-01 On Fire/02 Prince-S/03 Ocean/04 Nothing Like You/05 Crystal Gypsy/06 Beauty of the Ride/07 Mind Reader/08 Sforzandol/09 Willing To Wait/10 Hillbilly II/11 Zone Doubt/12 Too Pure/13 Worst Thing/14 Love To Fight/15 Perfect Way/16 Can't Give Up/17 Open Ended/18 Weed Against Speed/19 I Smell a Rat

SINGLES AND B SIDES-01 01 jaundice/02 Design/03 Dance/04 Cyster/05 Stockbroker/06 The Lorax/07 Me and My Arrow/08 Really Insane/09 Losercore/10 Julienne/11 Violent Elements/12 Attention/13 Your Long Journey/14 Pig/15 Hung Up/16 Slow To Learn/17 Oven Is My Friend/18 Prove It/19 Cheapshot/20 Gimme Indie Rock/21 Ride the Darker Wave/22 Red Riding Good/23 New King/24 Calling Yog Soggoth/25 Sister/26 Fantastic Disaster/27 Reject/28 Toledo/29 Gaffney Improv/30 All I Know/31 I Mean It/32 Song No.1 + I Stopped Singing/33 Princess/34 Half Undressed/35 The Act of Being Polite/36 Moisture/37 Suburban Bathers