Better than Gary Barlow.
52 songs on one CD! Lets be honest, that's an absolutely ridiculous number isn't it? That's a track for every week of the year but with the longest song clocking in at two minutes and forty-one seconds, you're not going to get many numbers that overstay their welcome.
Originally released in 1989 but brought to you in the modern age by the good people of Domino, it can clearly be seen that the money made by Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys is being ploughed back into giving fans a second chance to catch some indie legends and maybe also help line the pockets of some of yesterdays heroes. Following in the footsteps of acts such as Orange Juice, The Fire Engines and Young Marble Giants, Sebadoh are the latest benefactors to benefit from the push behind their second release 'The Freed Man.'
It's a lo-fi and scratchy collection which is fair enough considering its origins and original release on a home-made tape with Lou Barlow (then also of Dinosaur Jnr, one of classic alternative bands of their time, with J Mascis) and friends. Unsurprisingly there's little cohesion on the compilation, some of the moments are sparkling with the melodious start of 'Healthy Sick' giving a false impression of what the record may entail. The fuzzy acoustic end and downbeat vocals almost hint at some of the tracks on The Beatles 'White Album.' Of course, there is a cover of The Beatles 'Yellow Submarine' available here but it doesn't fit with the cuddly and cartoon style of the original. In this incarnation, its rather menacing and chaotic, giving the impression of a submarine that was in the middle of a war zone and all hell was breaking loose around it. As imaginative covers go, its not a bad one at all.
There are also some samples and added elements slipping into play with the cheery element of Tigger featuring at the start of 'Careless Mind Hands' and various other radio snippets which pepper throughout. Its just really hard to pin the album down at any point, as you'd expect with something with so many numbers on it, theres going to be a fair bit of variety and challenging sections.
And there are some sections which just do not work, with some bits going to cause an awful headache if they catch you badly or you're not in the mood for it. Sometimes value for money isn't always the best approach, the record would have more listen again qualities if perhaps there was a slight pruning of some of the weaker numbers, but hey, in this day and age of complete collectors and the ability of mp3 players to screen out unwanted tracks, the more the merrier eh?