Sebadoh: The Freed Man
So many tracks crammed onto one disc
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Monday, 25, Jun 2007 12:00
Domino Records, out June 25th.
In a nutshell.
Scattergun collection of lo-fi gems
What's it all about?
A re-released, expanded version of the first Sebadoh album, originally released in 1988 and featuring songs recorded throughout the 1980s. The lo-fi pioneers' debut was initially only available on cassette (and subsequently vinyl), but now gets a deluxe treatment alone the lines of the 2005 Sebadoh III reissue, in keeping with recent alt rock nostalgia which has also seen re-releases from the likes of Sonic Youth, Pavement et al.
Who's it by?
Eric Gaffney and Lou Barlow, a man whose famously checkered musical relations seem to have finally been amicably resolved this year. Barlow was part of 80s trailblazers Dinosaur Jr before the old "creative differences" chestnut saw him leave after the band's third album. Still only 22, Barlow then teamed up with Gaffney to form Sebadoh in 1988, before enjoying his biggest success with side-project the Folk Implosion in 1994, courtesy of sort-of hit single Natural One. You'd know it if you heard it.
Longstanding differences with both Gaffney and Dinosaur Jr figurehead J Mascis have now been put to bed, with both Dinosaur Jr and Sebadoh reuniting to tour and record new material of late. And if you thought that was as unclear as things get, you clearly haven't heard the 52 tracks worth of grainy recordings, fuzzy guitars and muddy vocals that make up the Freed Man.
As an example.
"Well I'm acting like a guy who just knows / Cos I'm looking for a punch in the nose" - from the charmingly incidental 1981 effort Punch in the Nose.
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
A shoe-in for the 'best album recorded 20 years ago in a bedroom on a store-bought cassette recorder' category.
What the others say
"At 70 minutes, there's a lot to digest, but the pair's playful primitivism captives still." - Uncut.
So is it any good?
Eagle-eyed readers will have worked out that 52 tracks crammed into 70 minutes aren't going to provide much by the way of sustained enjoyment. But that's in keeping with the ethos of the Freed Man and the countless lo-fi recordings that Sebadoh subsequently inspired. While not every song is a success, the rough-hewn efforts still manage to mix ramblings, noise collages and melancholy to good effect.
Originally released for just $1, the Freed Man was both recorded and released on the cheap, and the songs point the way to both Guided By Voices' fragmented recordings and the mischievous low-grade strum of the Moldy Peaches, among many others. Yet there's a lot to treasure as well, with Bolder and Jealous Evil just two of the tracks that indicate the way Barlow's song writing skills would ultimately reach their peak on 1994 album Bakesale.
Treating the recordings as an album is harder going; it seems unlikely that even the biggest Sebadoh fan will sit through the whole thing too often. Nonetheless the collection's offhand yet affecting atmosphere does slowly take hold, with particularly strong segments such as the late Fire of July/Jaundice/Design triumvirate managing to stand out amid a stream of blink-and-you'll miss them efforts. A testament to how inventive the DIY genre could be, the Freed Man still has plenty to offer over two decades later.
7/10
Dan Jones