Customer Reviews

Sebadoh

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Ive seen some bad reviews by fans of the band, and admittedly, I am strictly a casual Sebadoh listener, with only a few of their records. But with as little Sebadoh background as I have, I believe that this is, song for song, thier best record. The new drummer really adds something to the mix. Maybe its the ability to play, maybe its a more limiting/less experimental sound. Either way, even if the hardcore fans pan this album, I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the band.

This one's a grower, it creeps up like a lost urchin, taps you on the arm, and when you turn around and take notice it bites you hard in the other arm, drawing blood, making you yelp. Settle down and smile, it's only Sebadoh, back again at last. I don't get all this stuff people say about this record, it's not overly commercial sounding. If you listen to the Sebadoh collection in order, they were evolving this way, Harmacy was fairly mellow and gentle, but forget Harmacy."The Sebadoh" reminds me of my favourite record "Bakesale", not quite sure why. OK so it's not perfect and it probably deserves 3.5 stars, but here's a four for luck. The reasons why it's a bit of a winner - "Sorry", a classic burning Barlow song; " Nick of Time", Lowenstein jaggedness, "Drag Down" "It's all You" and "Colourblind", all great Sebadoh. There's nothing wrong with the record, it's a welcome break from all the acid-jazz, drum n bass and trance that I'm enjoying. Just buy it and it'll snatch you away.

different to what you normally would expected from sebadoh - a mellowed and now married Jason Loewenstein, a strangely at ease Lou Barlow and the unknown quantity of Russ Pollard. I have loved Sebadoh from the beginning and admittedly this album takes a little getting used to but it's worth the patience. Quite unlike any of their previous recordings this album truely explifies Sebadoh's ability to keep up with the changing face of modern music. With the emergence of Jason being more than just Lou's 'sidekick', and as many fans have expected over the years, as a worthy songwriter in his own right. Sebadoh still keep us rocking!

Of course, not all people who like Sebedoh will think this album deserves 4 stars. Looking back to "3," "Bakesale," and "Smash Your Head On the Punk Rock" (some earlier, wonderful albums), this CD certainly feels strange.

But here's my theory -- as bands grow and shrink and change with the tides of music, and as the Backstreet Boys take over the pop charts, how can we call "The Sebedoh" selling out? It is either an evolution or a devolution, whatever you want to call it, but it is full of the same interesting, cerebral, wearing-stompy-black-boots-to-the-prom songwriting that we have come to love from this band.

If you know the band, you may be cranky about this CD. But I see it as just different, not more nor less.

And if you have never heard Sebedoh, this is a good place to start.

First off, this is the best Sebadoh album since Bubble & Scrape. Second, they didn't kick out Eric Gaffney. He quit/rejoined so many times that it became tedious with the final straw coming when he decided he was better off as an 'absentee' member - i.e just send me my royalty check and I'll send you my songs. Third, I don't really see how people can't 'get' this album . What's to get ? It's a collection of songs. It ain't 'Sgt. Pepper' or 'Dark Side of the Moon'. There's no interwoven theme or message. There's some loud songs and there's a couple slower ones. Russ Pollard's drumming is great and adds tremendous rhythmic variety that's been missing. They took some chances - 'Flame' is unlike anything they've ever done. They use more keyboards (almost every song) then they've ever done. You people expect too much out of your geniuses.

After the hard-rocking but somewhat held back Harmacy. Lou provides his fans with a two year wait until the new album. IN between he did some good stuff with Folk Implosion but that's it really. This would be my second Sebadoh album I got. I found this for a cheap price and since I liked Harmacy so much, I picked it up and enjoyed this alot.

But after hearing the rest of the Sebadoh albums, this PALES in comparasion to any of them. The sound is there the lyrics are somewhat there, but the emotional depth and raw anger isn't there at all. Most of the songs veer off into weird exprimental-type songs with synth and keyboarding. But it's not the generic run-of-the-mill keyboarding, it actually sounds pretty clean and it still flows very well with the music. A very good example is the opener "It's all you" where at first starts like a normal punk song but steers clear of that and goes right into exprimental mode.

The reason why alot of Sebadoh/Barlow fans hated this was because of the lack of emotion and depth like I said before. Those factors made Sebadoh what they were, and angry indie band. But by this, it's been turned into mushy almost love songs and different tones. It's ok to try new stuff, but if it's the bands last album then make it a good memorable one.

As for the tunes on the album. Most of the tracks are divided into two sounds, the Barlow sound and the Jason sound. Jason does punky, harder songs that have pretty good harmless lyrics. Lou does easier less hard songs with harsher lyrics, it's weird. But to say that this album does have it's share of great songs. Thrive, Tree, Flame, It's all you, Dragdown and BreakFree are the prime examples of how good this album is. I actually LOVE the song Thrive from the great lyrics and singing from Lou to the upbeat guitaring, but the other attempts at "beautiful" songs like Love is Stronger, Colorblind and Decide kinda fail at what they're trying to attempt.

In conclusion, this would be good for someone who knows Barlow's work and can put up with a change in the music.

Recommended.

There is not one song on here that cannot escape the label of "catchy". Lo-fi, guitar-driven, melodic and fun, it's a work of art that is easily embraced and fits well into any day. Sebadoh is an honestly enjoyable rock band whose songwriting is A++, as well are their lyrics. You have probably already heard of what a gem the song "Flame" is with a ready-set-go start and race to it, or how "Love is Stronger" glorifies the power of love (they refined such a ubiquitous cliche!) with a downtrodden beat that belongs etched into the heart of every romantically-confused individual. "Sorry" is also a smart little tune to absorb once in a while. Don't fool yourself: this is an album you should own.

I have bakesale and harmacy and I thought they were very good. So I was leary to buy this record because of the so-so reviews it got. Again Mr.Barlow wrote some very fine material. This is a solid record filled with good harmanies and lyrics.

Okay I'll admit I was dissapointed with the poppiness of it. But since I was on a long trip when I got it, and basically had listened to everything so I kept listening to it. And after the 7th listen, it showed it's true colours. Just because it is produced well and they aren't bagging around on pots and pans doesn't mean it isn't innovative. The songs on this disk are all interesting. Don't you even dare say "sell out." It's not like there is a video. I suggest if you are even interested in this band pick up the album, but don't give up on it right away. The best records our the ones you discover. (Hey it took me 3 years to discover the beauty of Harmacy.)

Jeez, this was disappointing, and I've loved Lou/Sebadoh back to "Weed Forestin."

First off, given the amount of time they had to work on material, I'm amazed at how poor the songs are. For all the overproduction on "Harmacy", that album still had half a dozen or so really good tunes. Five minutes after listening to "The Sebadoh", nothing stayed with me.

Secondly...I'm glad they've got a drummer they like. But, does that mean the drums have to be so friggin' loud? If that's my choice, I'll take Bob or Eric's sloppiness any day.