weddos vs. sebadoh

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

barlow or gedge ?

i think it's the english guy all the way.

and did any of louie's bands ever do a song that was just straight forward and unabashedly happy ? can't think of a fuckin' one.

― mike (ro)bott, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The cover of "Run To You".

― Sterling Clover, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Could sebadoh keep away from the Bong long enough to cover Take Me?? All that fast jangling may tire Lou out.

― brg30, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

All that fast jangling may tire Lou out.

listen to the first two records, there's a few barn-burners on there...

totally underrated by the fickle indie-guilters... early (ie, pre- Sub Pop) Sebadoh.

― gygax! (i forgot my blog password), Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

GEDGE! (I have the new Cinerama CD in my bag, bought it today. Haven't heard it yet.)

― DavidM, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh please! There's absolutely no comparison. The Wedding Present every damn time. Sebadoh will *never* rival the sheer majesty of "Kennedy", "Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?", "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah," "Dalliance," "Blue Eyes," "Brassneck" etc. etc. etc.

― Alex in NYC, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The usual disclaimers apply, but: "The Freed Pig," "Kath," "God Told Me," "Punch In The Nose," "It's So Hard To Fall In Love," "Skull," "Magnet's Coil"... wow wow wow...

― Douglas, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

sebadoh's bakesale album is a compact, thoroughly efficient and emotionally involving blast of post-punk. i think it's one of the finest records of its time. this wedding present stuff? well it's sub-smiths sing-alongs, isn't it? right up there with mccarthy. i bet the lyrics are great (the song titles sure are) if only i could be bothered to listen closely.

― fields of salmon, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm with Alex in NYC. Two songs aside, Sebadoh I cast unto perdition. The Weddoes wipe the floor with them with "Dalliance" alone.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

woah!

i just downloaded some of this "seamonsters" album. it's fucking good! i stand corrected ... these are lovely songs! not smiths-like at all!

― fields of salmon, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

yeh, seamonsters is ace

― g, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

wow! complete 180 degree turn in my opinion. this is a fantastic band! i'm still having trouble with the singing on the early stuff ...

― fields of salmon, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Although I am biased (i've never heard any sebadoh) I can vouch for the Weddoes... who have the dubious honour of being the band i've seen the most (it's a tie between them and the Kitchens)

Both Bizarro and Seamonsters have been reissued with oodles of extra bsides etc...

― baxter wingnut, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Gedge commits the crime of being boring. sebadoh commits the crimes of inconsistancy. I'll take inconsistancy over boring any day of the week.

― jack cole, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

WP, quite obviously in my case. However...

Cinerama is imho better than both the WP and Sebadoh. I might not get bonus points for such an answer, but I had to say it..

― Simon, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

But Jack, what if they are boring in their inconstancy?

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ned - LOL. You're such a clever swine...

― Simon, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Don't get me wrong -- after maybe Bakesale or so, Barlow has done little to impress me. But still, I can think of more Barlow and Sebadoh songs that have sparked my intrest than anything I've heard Gedge do in either the Wedding Present or Cinerama, both bands I've seen on numerous occasions, but never because I was there to see Gedge. If anything, Barlow amuses me for becoming what he accused J. Masic of in "The Freed Pig." But, hey, that's just me. Gedge just doesn't do it for me -- a flatline on my music meter.

― Jack Cole, Friday, 12 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Reverse "Gedge" and "Sebadoh" in your first post, Jack, and those are my sentiments exactly!

― Clarke B., Saturday, 13 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Surely Brand New Love counts for something...?

― JM, Saturday, 13 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The last time I saw the Wedding Present was when they were touring with the Chills, who I had come to see. After the Wedding Present was done, almost everyone left (hundreds of people), leaving about ten people for the Chills, whose set blew Gedge out of the water (which surprised me actually, since I didn't know what to expect from the Chills anymore since Phillips had dipped since going big time (in NZ at least).

The Wedding Present was better than Cinerama, though. I'll say that.

― jack cole, Saturday, 13 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Sub-thread: Gedge's Cinerama vs. Barlow's Folk Implosion.

In this battle, I'll go with Folk Implosion, as Cinerama couldn't possibly be any weaker/duller/twee-er. Cinerama are a crap as the Wedding Present was mighty. Simillarly, I've quite enjoyed the smattering of Folk Implosion (and "Deluxxe Folk Implosion") tracks I've heard (mostly from the "Kids" soundtrack)....and much better than Barlow's "day job" in Sebadoh. His stuff with early Dinosaur ("Dino- bore!") Jr. still stands up.

Still, the Wedding Present's "Kennedy" trumps all.

― Alex in NYC, Saturday, 13 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ah, the Folk Implosion. There's a band worth killing. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 13 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm with Douglas. Gedge is great and all but he doesn't have a "Freed Pig" or "Soul and Fire" in him. Too mannered for that. "And thank God," cry the Anglophiles...hello, Ned ;)

― John Darnielle, Saturday, 13 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Oddly, "Soul and Fire" is indeed one of the two songs Barlow has done that doesn't warrant my disdain. ;-)

But as for this mannered deal -- hold on now. I don't buy that -- it's part of this lingering vision, which John alludes to, that Brit = mannered/American = more real, MAN. Dave Q doubtless holds to this take, but I find it Yer Typical Stereotype -- if anything, for the specific example at hand, Barlow is *as* mannered as Gedge (and compared to, say, Mark E. Smith, or if you like the Spice Girls 1996 or DJ Sticky's slew of collaborators, Barlow is an inexpressive dullard).

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 13 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I would agree that Barlow became mannered and leaden, devolving (as J. Mascis did) into a really uninteresting songwriter and performer. I would disagree, though, that any of the Sebadoh up through Bubble & Scrape is mannered, however -- then again, I think Sebadoh was at their best when Eric Gaffney was in the band (and I like Gaffney's solo record on Old Gold quite a bit). Gedge has always been mannered (and there's nothing necessarily wrong with that either).

― jack cole, Saturday, 13 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I say it's a tie. I like them both equaly. Freed Pig and Kennedy, Box Elder Mo and Crest

― brg30, Sunday, 14 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

eight months pass...

reviving this thread... i'd say sebadoh peaked earlier (first 1/3rd) and the weddoes peaked about midway through their careers.

as much as their output dropped off toward the end, i think the WP was more listenable, less cringe inducing.

but i also wanted to add this from another thread:
however, i'd argue lou barlow's original take on hardcore (deconstructionist, single person acoustic boombox recordings (cf, minutemen "econo"-ethic) incorporating samples, tapes, loops) was revolutionary for the genre (yes, early sebadoh = hardcore). this anti-sebadoh revisionism is pretty boring, they were very critical in the underground music scene of the late 80s/early 90s no matter how hard you young whippersnappers try to distance yourselves from his later ballad-intensive material.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 20 March 2003 21:51 (twenty-three years ago)

one of the great T/S mismatches... "Violet Execution" > "Kennedy" X "Dalliance" X "Brassneck"

― Aaron A., Friday, 21 March 2003 03:26 (twenty-three years ago)

Sebadoh became progressively more boring the more they became a Lou Barlow songwriting vehicle.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Friday, 21 March 2003 11:02 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought thats how it started; their first album was all Barlow material and much stronger for it. None of the later albums are a match for Weed Forestin.

― hamish (hamish), Friday, 21 March 2003 12:24 (twenty-three years ago)

WP, no contest. I picked up 'Harmacy blind when Barlow was all the buzz -- i shat in its general direction.

― christoff (christoff), Friday, 21 March 2003 13:25 (twenty-three years ago)

I picked up 'Harmacy blind when Barlow was all the buzz

no offense christoff but that's like showing up to the new year's party at 2:00 a.m.

― otto, Friday, 21 March 2003 14:33 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, you're probably right. It's just that Loewenstein is so much more entertaining, and it's like Barlow already shot the whole of his wad back in (the vastly superior) Mascis-days. I've since heard pieces from III and Bakesale, but i guess it just wasn't my kinda scene. Besides, i prefer camping on new years.

― christoff (christoff), Friday, 21 March 2003 15:23 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

weddoes all the way. actually, it hurts me to even have to compare them. gedge is wonderful, and all sebadoh-related records have struck me as half-baked bullshit.

― paulhw (paulhw), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:09 (twenty-two years ago)

OTMFM.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:14 (twenty-two years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.