Minutemen

In a better world, neither of these albums would exist. D. Boon, the hulking frontman and
guitarist of the Minutemen, would not have died in a van accident three days before
Christmas 1985, and the trio's surviving rhythm section (bassist Mike Watt and drummer
George Hurley) would not have had to find a new partner. But since we can't alter fate,
we'll have to console ourselves with a raucous wake, in the posthumous compil... More >

As someone who's never had much patience with the mystique of the ill-recorded moment, music overheard just before it slips into the historical void its creators figure it for, I'll make a partial exception for the Minutemen, because I miss them so much. I know most of the songs on this mostly live double in versions I prefer, but better than any studio distillation it underlines the crucial point: they lived. And given the modesty so intrinsic to their world-historical public ambitions, its muffled, take-a-flier intimacy speaks. Also, I like the covers. (Grade - A-)