Our Band Could Be Your Life: A Tribute to D Boon and the Minutemen

Various Artists

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 23, 1996)
• Original Release Date: February 23, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Little Brother Records
• ASIN: B0000020U7
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #326,187 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. King of the Hill - Sparkalepsy

2. This Ain't No Picnic - Seam

3. Fake Contest - Overpass

4. Storm in My House - Hazel

5. Futurism Restated - Nuzzle

6. Tony Gets Wasted in Pedro - Oswald Five-O

7. Sickles and Hammers - Joe Boon

8. Tour-Spiel - Brain Surgeons

9. Search

10. Shit from an Old Notebook - Treepeople

11. Themselves - Cindy Albon

12. Courage - Tsunami

13. More Joy

14. Price of Paradise - Meat Puppets

15. World According to Nouns - Crackerbash

16. Self-Referenced/West Germany - Nels Cline Trio

17. Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth? - Dos

18. Games

19. Corona - Overwhelming Colorfast

20. Party With Me Punker - Free Kitten

See all 33 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars remembering D., November 19, 2007

By	Stargrazer "the lost mixtape of my life" (deep in the heart of Michigan) - See all my reviews

Boasting both a superb song selection and a cast including not only 90s stalwarts like Seam, Treepeople, The Meat Puppets, Nels Cline, Thurston Moore, Jawbox, and Unwound; but also the extended Minutemen family -- Mike Watt, Ed Crawford (fIREHOSE), Tom Watson, Joe Boon, Albert and Joe Bouchard (Blue Oyster Cult), Dez Cadena (Black Flag, DC3, etc.), Ethan James, Kira Roessler (Black Flag, Dos), and Joe Baiza appear in various combinations throughout the album.

It's a good listen, providing a few complete re-toolings of Minutemen songs (most notably Seam's glacially-paced "This Ain't No Picnic," Ethan James & Cindy Albon's stripped-to-the-bone arabic-flavored "Themselves," and Lou Barlow's narcoleptic, acoustic take on "Black Sheep") as well as some bashed-out punk readings that focus on the headlong energy of early Minutemen material.

The sheer scope of artists featured gives weight to the Minutemen's personal, political, and musical umbrella of influence, even including a couple illuminating interview snippets and a "live" recording of "Badges" where the soundman and a promoter can be heard bickering over the din of the music in the background -- a hilarious inclusion that reveals just how well 80's punk and countercultural bands were received in 1980s America.

Considering the sheer musical and ideological influence of the Minutemen as well as the workmanship and passion committed to each song, this canonization is both welcome and timely. As a tribute album, "Our Band Could Be Your Life" functions well as a dramatic re-telling of the Minutemen tale, recombining the punk, contrapuntal arrangements, "out" jazz and workingman's industrial folk that informed their albums into what feels like a family-style wake.

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliance &%**( brilliance, September 29, 2005

By	tweedyfarrar "yeah" (here) - See all my reviews

A great collection of artists to create a fitting tribute to the Minutemen and the brilliant D. Boon. I think a good addition would be the Uncle Tupelo song D. Boon. Though not a cover, the song would have been a fitting song to wind down this tribute album with an original tribute song.