Sebadoh "The Freed Man" (Domino)
By Tim Bugbee
Wednesday. Aug 15, 3:02 PM
The lo-fi salvo that launched a thousand Tascam 4-tracks reissued.

Here it is, in its full-fledged (extra-fledged?) glory, the lo-fi salvo that launched a thousand Tascam 4-tracks, secretly whirring away in bedrooms the world over. Of all the Homestead-era Sebadoh records which are currently unavailable, III was the most obvious one to get out to the public first, but now we've got the Lou Barlow and Eric Gaffney debut (can Weed Forestin' be too far off from the royal treatment? And to clarify, that endeavor was actually the debut Sebadoh recording, but it was a homemade / self-released effort with just Lou-penned songs, which Gerard Cosloy chose as the second release: got that straight?), and it's a glorious mess. Peppered with messy, distorted guitars (some of which I think they played during the recent tour), boom box-quality recording style, snippets of tape loops, bits of TV shows, mewling cats, and childhood recordings (check out the middle bit of "Julienne," before the rock-out ending. It's hilarious), all thoroughly infused with self-conscious lyrics and self-questioning ethos. Lou'd been squirreling bits of this treasure (some may say detritus) away for a while, and found a kindred spirit in Eric; they had the freedom and courage to put out some of the most naked and unflinching material heard anywhere, and a few weeks after Cosloy signed them to a deal, Lou got a whole lot more free time to work on this project, as he was relieved of bass duties in Dinosaur Jr.

During their recent reunion tour, some of these songs were thrashed out ("Ladybugs," "Level Anything," and "Moldy Bread" were played at the show I saw), but if any fans who'd just heard the Sub Pop material stuck this in and hit play, they'd be in for a rude awakening: the bastardization of "Yellow Submarine" would see to that immediately. "Lou Rap" is another multi-faceted puzzler. Overall, it's a fascinating listen, a true artifact of those specific times for Lou and Eric. The reissue adds on some rare material (the band's contribution to the Metal Ribbons 3×7" that was released on Leopard Gecko, and the Asshole 7" from Vertical), as well as some stuff from the cassette which never made the original LP or CD, but also really screws around with the original track order for The Freed Man material (the name of which was lifted from the dorm [Friedman] where Lou and Eric illegally shacked up with their girlfriends at the all-female Smith College).
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Tim Bugbee

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