Domino continue their reissues of early Sebadoh material with this, a 52-track deluxe edition of the debut album The Freed Man. This album, whilst being Lou Barlow’s first chance to spread his wings and escape from the increasingly bitter and aggressive Dinosaur Jnr, was also hailed as the first album of the burgeoning lo-fi movement that would encompass Beck and Guided By Voices by the mid 1990’s. It was also a product of the cassette culture that was blossoming in America, with Barlow commenting on the fact that he could buy some cheap recording equipment, record onto tape and then sell the music at his local record stores.

Listening to this album now, it’s hard not to get bogged down in the hissing production and the very lo-fi approach that Sebadoh (basically Barlow and Gaffney at this point) took with it’s scratchy guitars and seemingly endless supply of TV show excerpts channelled through the songs. This is definitely the sound of a “band” finding their feet, with Barlow slowly, but surely, developing as a songwriter and producer of sorts. The simple songs, mainly arranged around guitar, ukelele and some simple percussion is embellished by crackles of feedback and short, sharp pieces of TV audio that sounds, oddly, like someone’s flicking through channels with the remote. This reissue is interesting as a document on seeing where Sebadoh and Barlow came from, but as an album that you can listen to, it’s not really that accessible and easy to listen to. Whilst some of the tracks are fine thrashy numbers that hint of the possibilities the future holds, some are crackling demos that sound like two stoned guys in a garage. Which, I suppose, it actually was. The addition of all the extra tracks makes this a real slog to get through, and I’m a Sebadoh fan! Whilst the unreleased material really added to the re-release of last years III, here they just extend the pain.

This record is a real rough diamond and there are songs here where you can see the future that stretches out in front of Sebadoh – Deny with it’s crunching bass line and trashing guitars held together by the drone like vocals, the gentle strum of True Hardcore (with it’s tagline of “This is a complete rip-off of every other song I’ve ever done”) with Barlow’s sweet vocals mesmerising as they pierce out of the dusty production. Then there’s the thrash cover of Yellow Submarine which is barely audable over the crackles of tape as the guitars roll around like some animal in it’s final death throws. Whereas last years III is a classic album of lo-fi rock, The Freed Man doesn’t quite hit the same levels, the additional tracks may not even be that interesting to fans, but as a record there are hints of what’s to come – this is the noisy, dirty and flawed birth of something that was to grow into something altogether more important.
65%

Look out for an interview with Lou Barlow in the coming weeks!

Links
Sebadoh [official site] [myspace]