Thursday, 28 June 2007

SEBADOH – BEAUTY OF THE RIDE (DOMINO)


SEBADOH – BEAUTY OF THE RIDE (DOMINO)

With “Beauty Of The Ride” Lou Barlow thankfully displayed his more energetic side of song writing as opposed to the slow, sappy break-up songs that came to represent his contribution to the cannon of Sebadoh while Jason Loewenstein would run rampant with all the headstrong, firecrackers of songs. In many ways this is the song that best represents all the good parts of the Sebadoh experience.

Taken from “Harmacy” this period represented the band at the peak of their powers with perhaps the most accessible material of their career. Suddenly out of nowhere this was the band to name drop and no longer bogged down by the seeming necessity to be lo-fi these times saw Sebadoh as a playful and tight unit perfectly syncing and exchanging ideas in a kind of harmony that had not been suggested before. Loose and exciting this was definitely a high water mark for the band from a pop perspective.

It opens with a seemingly calamitous beginning before Lou Barlow drops in which his trademark heartfelt vocals and lyrics of concern. With this you can see why so many indie girls found themselves getting wet over his glasses and locks and why so many indie boys co-opted the actually easy look in an effort to perhaps channel into some of his sloppy seconds at the shows in the process. Yes I am pulling your pisser.

The conceit of this song appears to be agony but thankfully there is an urgency to proceedings that means it is never allowed to slow down and falter, there was never to be any flab on the Sebadoh body while these thoughts were zipping around.

It all ends well, the listener is satisfied and Lou most definitely sounds satisfied as anyone around in misery is not represented. Yes I am drunk.

On the other side of this seven inch is their cover of the Palace/Will Oldham song “Riding” taken from a BBC session back in the days when they recorded indie bands in session. The tone of the track is a corking compliment to the Bonnie Prince that Lou and the band actually manage to wrestle away from a swamp country quagmire. Now if this is a good thing depends really on whether you have a beard and how long it is.

How green was the fucking cover?

Thesaurus moment: soaring.

Sebadoh
Domino

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