Sebadoh – ‘III’ (Domino) Released 10/07/06

Reissued in all its glory ‘III’ has come to represent eveything that is good about alternative American rock, in those eternal words - just gimme indie rock. Here we find Sebadoh at their finest as they fit neatly among the ranks of other great alt. rockers like The Lemonheads, Sonic Youth and Nirvana. Lo-fi  it most certainly is, with grungy, distorted, even detuned guitars, traces of jazz and folk with radio unfriendly lyrics.

Take ‘Renaissance Man’ for instance: "Oh what is true? What is real? No bullshit brother, pot smoking, renaissance man" .phps the three piece without a sniff of over production in sight. It helped herald a new generation of electric white boy blues and for many people this  re-release will be a rumble down a rocky road of memories. However, it will be the first time round this reviewer who managed to miss them in their hayday. So this album is fresh food for these ears and they are pleased to hear something from the 90s that has subtleties of sound, thoughtful song structures and genuinely creative lyrics.

This is a double album (because of the bonus disc), and all in all there are a staggering 42 tracks to take in and savour. Each one has its own unique quality, some are real rock outs like ‘Limb By Limb, ‘Supernatural Force’, ‘Gold Told Me’ or ‘Ride The Darker Wave’. Others border on experimental noise ‘Rockstar’, ‘The Devil’s Reggae’ with mashed up taped sounds or charmingly titled ‘As The World Dies The Eyes Of God Grow Bigger’. There are the instrumentals like ‘Sickles And Hammers’ and ‘Cranberry Bog’. But possibly one of the most pertinent forces at work here comes ex-Dinosaur Jr bassist Lou Barlow and his quirky acoustic folk ditties like on ‘Total Peace’, ‘Truly Great Thing’ and ‘Kath’.

All that aside the contribution of Eric Gaffney ultimately gives Sebadoh their mass appeal with his lazy Pavement style distorted, fuzzy indie pop songs. Welcome to the sound of Generation X, the slacker start of the 90s.