| The Essential | The Rest |
|---|---|
|
Double Nickels on the Dime Post-Mersh, Vol. 1 Post-Mersh, Vol. 2 Post-Mersh, Vol. 3 |
3-Way Tie For Last Ballot Result |
Double Nickels on the Dime (1984, SST 028)With their third LP, Double Nickels on the Dime, the Minutemen announced to anyone who was listening that they had arrived. As the most punk rock 'n roll band in the world, or possibly the most un-punk punk rock band, the Minutemen once again defies stereotype. One minute they're "jamming econo," bashing away at two chords; while the next minute they're grooving through one of their quasi-funk numbers at dangerous speeds.
The one constant on the album, though, is the band's playing. The Minutemen had grown rhythmically tight: D. Boon's staccato, heavily-muted guitar playing complements Mike Watt's stratospheric, funky basslines and George Hurley's jazz-like drumming perfectly.
Released as a two record set in 1984, partially in response to Husker Du's Zen Arcade, the Double Nickels on the Dime CD has an astonishing 43 songs. All of which feature surprisingly even songwriting, considering the heft of the ambitious project.
It's clear that the band's roots are planted in late-70s, early-80s punk rock, but that doesn't stop the band from stretching out on this release. The result is one schizophrenic listening experience which finds the boys from San Pedro, CA experimenting more and more with rock-oriented song structures (verse, chorus, verse), rather than the poetry readings put to hyper-speed rhythms they had favored in the past. For example, listen to their legitimate covers of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Don't Look Now," Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" (vinyl only), and their hilarious cover of Steely Dan's "Dr. Wu."
Also, Double Nickels on the Dime finds Boon assuming more vocal duties than in the past, where singing had been more evenly divided between he and Watt.
HIGHLIGHTS: The insanely funky (for a white trio) "Theatre is the Life of You" and "Viet Nam." The D. Boon- sung caustic gems "It's Expected I'm Gone," "#1 Hit Song," "Shit From an Old Notebook," "One Reporer's Opinion," "Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing," "The Big Foist," "This Ain't No Picnic" and "God Bows to Math." The gorgeous ballad "History Lesson - Part II." The comically absurd Mike Watt songs "Take 5, D." and "Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth?."
LOWLIGHTS: None -- the album is very consistent. Weaker songs are easily forgiven as they, like all Minutemen songs, are extremely brief.
GRADE: A
Post-Mersh, Vol. 1 collects the Minutemen's first
two LPs on one CD, 1981's The Punch Line, and 1983's
What Makes a Man Start Fires?.
The Punch Line is a true punk masterpiece, realizing
the potential of Paranoid Time (1980) and locking the
band's formula in place. D. Boon's frenzied strumming
and high chord voicings take a back seat to Mike Watt's
omnipresent bass. In fact, the Minutemen's musical
presentation was quite unique, almost refined, for a punk
band -- and a far cry from accepted hardcore norms.
The rhythm section dominates the album, accentuating the
songs' mindful, overtly political lyrics, which often
destroyed myths ("The Punch Line") or attacked the American
dream ("The Struggle," "Disguises") in the process.
Clearly the weaker of two albums, What Makes a Man
Start Fires? lacks the urgency or intensity
of The Punch Line. Some of the rough edges that
made previous Minutemen records so invigorating have been
smoothed. A few songs on What Makes a Man Start
Fires? feature slowed-down, run-of-the-mill tempos
that make typical-sounding Minutemen songs sound atypical. While
many other songs are simply too lenghthy. Also, by changing
musical directions,
Watt and Boon have been bound by convention,
severely handcuffing their creative faculties.
In all honesty, it's difficult to pinpoint the reasons
why What Makes a Man Start Fires? is so
lackluster. It just doesn't move like other Minutemen
records. Many of the album's songs, however, are among the
band's finest and the album's lyrics are consistently good,
as usual.
HIGHLIGHTS: "Search," "Tension," "Ruins," "The
Punch Line," "Fanatics" and "History Lesson" from The
Punch Line. "Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs," "Life
as a Rehearsal," "One Chapter in the Book," "Fake Contest"
and "'99" from What Makes a Man Start Fires?.
LOWLIGHTS: Too many mediocre songs bog down
the middle and end of What Makes a Man Start Fires?
("East Wind/Faith," "The Anchor," "Sell or be Sold,"
"Split Red," "Plight").
GRADE: A
The EPs Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat
(1983) and Project: Mersh (1985) are both included
on Post-Mersh, Vol. 2.
Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat, an
8-song EP, finds the Minutemen returning to form after the
subpar What Makes a Man Start Fires?. The
frenzied, haphazard-yet-calculated rhythms that distinguished
early Minutemen material has returned. Now, however, the
band does not rely solely on brevity and speed to make an
impact. Instead, song dynamics are tastefully applied
throughout, allowing the songs room to breathe. One reason
for the shift may be the improved, more confident guitar
playing of D. Boon, as he now shares the spotlight with
bass-master Mike Watt. Indeed, good things
were in store for the Minutemen, as their magnum opus,
Double Nickels on the Dime, was mere months away.
Project: Mersh, on the other hand, has the unenviable
task of following Double Nickels on the Dime.
A tongue-in-cheek stab at radio-friendly rock, the EP
is a far cry from Paranoid Time or The Punch
Line musically, but stylistically the band maintains
its integrity, sharp wit and genuine originality. Mersh,
slang for commercial, doesn't translate into lyrical
fluffiness, though, even with the music sonically
less jarring and downright friendly. The Minutemen's six
songs cover
topics ranging from political abuses of power ("The Cheerleaders,"
"King of the Hill") to bizarre autobiographical tales
("Tour Spiel").
HIGHLIGHTS: The blazing, quasi-philosophical
"Self-Referenced," "Cut," "Dream Told by Moto" and
"The Product"; funk/punk gems "I Felt Like a Gringo" and
"Little Man with a Gun in his Hand" from Buzz or Howl
Under the Influence of Heat. "King of the Hill" and
"Tour Spiel" from Project: Mersh.
LOWLIGHTS: Buzz or Howl is not long
enough. "More-Spiel" from Project: Mersh is
monotonous and one
of the worst Minutemen songs committed to record.
GRADE: A
Post-Mersh, Vol. 3, the most extensive album of the
trilogy, compiles the Minutemen's 1980 debut EP Paranoid
Time, the EPs Bean Spill (1982) and Tour
Spiel (1985), the Joy single (1981), and the
1984 LP The Politics of Time.
Paranoid Time features seven songs that are as
precise as they are concise. Clocking in at 6 minutes and
31 seconds, the EP is a commemoration of early-eithties
hardcore dogma and Cold War-era anxieties. The songs are brief,
yes, but unbelievably coherent and even (gasp!) a bit catchy.
The Joy single features three songs, "Joy,"
"Black Sheep," and "More Joy," that were most likely
recorded on the road or Paranoid Time outtakes.
As such, the songs are hardly prime Minutemen material, though
they do satisfy completist means. On the other hand,
five very strong songs comprise the
Bean Spill EP, which finds the band thriving in their
bass-heavy, near-improvisational, syncopated funk setting.
As an album collecting the band's early unreleased
material,
The Politics of Time exposes a veratible goldmine of
good songs. The first half of the album is devoted to
standard fare Minutemen tracks -- funky-as-hell and
sociopolitically-aware -- while the second half consists of
live, pre-Minutemen (Reactionaries) material,
featuring saxophonist/vocalist Michael Tamburovich. While the
sound quality isn't the best, the songs are still
exhilarating for the same reasons Minutemen songs are --
they're honest, aggressive, often humorous, and always sharp.
With Tour Spiel, the Minutemen honor their
favorite rock stars by offering torrid covers of their songs. All four
interpretations are invigorting: from the choleric bridge
section of Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love," to the
smoking version of Blue Oyster Cult's "The Red and the
Black," to the faithful covers of Creedence Clearwater
Revival's "Green River" and the Meat Puppets' "Lost."
HIGHLIGHTS: "Validation," "Sickles and Hammers,"
"Fascist," "Joe McCarthy's Ghost" and "Paranoid Chant"
from Paranoid Time. "If Reagan Played Disco,"
"Afternoons" and "Futurism Restated" from Bean Spill.
"Shit You Hear at Parties," "Party with Me Punker," "Big
Lounge Scene" plus a handful of live cuts from The
Politics of Time. The groove-happy cover of "The
Red and the Black" from Tour Spiel.
LOWLIGHTS: The Joy single. Some tracks on
The Politics of Time would be best left unreleased.
GRADE: A
As the last album before D. Boon's tragic death in a
car accident, 3-Way Tie (For Last) is more effective
as a valediction than anything else. The Minutemen seem far
detached from their boisterous early days, as the band now
follows the lead of their precedent-setting
Project: Mersh album. That is, the songs are less
abrasive and more listerner-friendly than past Minutemen
efforts. Though no commercial radio station would touch them in 1985,
modern rock radio today would most likely embrace 3-Way
Tie material.
HIGHLIGHTS: Their cover of "Have You Ever Seen the
Rain?," the third Creedence Clearwater Revival cover
committed to record. Boon's "Price of Paradise," "The
Big Stick" and "Courage." Watt's "Spoken Word Piece."
LOWLIGHTS: The newfangled "No One." The studio
versions of Blue Oyster Cult's "The Red and the Black" and
the Meat Puppets' "Lost" aren't as good as the live ones
found on Tour Spiel. The album's closer "Bermuda."
GRADE: D
A collection of fan ballots literally decided the makeup of
Ballot Result, the Minutemen's sole live album, released
posthumously in 1987. Ballots placed in copies of 3-Way
Tie (For Last) asked fans to choose their three favorite
Minutemen tracks for a live album, tentatively titled 3 Dudes/6
Sides/3 Studio/3 Live. Of course, D. Boon's death
halted the project, but his surviving bandmates went ahead
and tabulated the votes. The resulting album covers
every phase of the band's career, highlighting some of
the best songs in the Minutemen canon. The performances too
are top notch -- no small feat, given the deceptive
complexity of their songs -- even when the sound quality
isn't.
HIGHLIGHTS: "Little Man with a Gun in His Hand,"
"Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing," "I Felt Like
a Gringo," "Jesus and Tequila," "Ack Ack Ack," "History
Lesson - Part II," "This Ain't No Picnic," "Cut," "Shit You
Hear at Parties," "Tour Spiel" and "Bob Dylan Wrote
Propaganda Songs."
LOWLIGHTS: The tedious and over-long "No One,"
"Mr. Robot's Holy Orders" and "Hell." The sound quality of
the closing tracks.
GRADE: C
Post-Mersh, Vol. 1 (1987, SST 138)
Post-Mersh, Vol. 2 (1987, SST 139)
Post-Mersh, Vol. 3 (1989, SST 165)
The Rest
3-Way Tie (For Last) (1985, SST 058)
Ballot Result (1987, SST 068)
All Minutemen album reviews by Matthew
Eddy 3/99.
