(originally posted on Facebook)
Minutemen were a California punk band, and Double Nickles on the Dime is their double-album magnum opus. When I hear "punk double album" I'm not sure what to think. Punk is supposed to be about dispensing with indulgence and playing really raw music. Most punk songs wind up being about 2 minutes, maybe 3 minutes long and feature the basic hooks with little filler. Since an LP can hold about 60 minutes of music, a double album is usually about 80 minutes long. Any shorter and songs would probably be cut from the album rather than extended onto a second disc.
So how does a punk band make an 80 minute album? If every song were 3 minutes long there would have to be 27 songs. If they were closer to 2 minutes long there would have to be 40 songs! Time to check my running order... 74 minutes and 43 songs! Yikes! The median runtime is 1:48. Well, that's hardly enough time to get invested in a song no matter how awesome the hook. What Minutemen wind up giving me are 43 songlets that have some neat ideas and a bit of punch to them, but the album winds up feeling really underdeveloped. Rather than indulge themselves by making a double album of largely forgettable chunks of music, it would have been nice to hear one or two compelling compositions including fills and extended solos.
I didn't think a punk album could disappoint me. I think Minutemen could have made something really good if they put in the effort. Instead each song just comes off as a huge tease of something more impressive. 2 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment