csberry

Double Nickels on the Dime is a double-album with over 40 songs. Okay...it's not really that long once you see that most of the songs are 2 minutes or shorter and only two songs are longer than 2 1/2 minutes. This isn't 40 tracks of punk. This is a collection of songs by a "punk" band that is constantly altering their style of music. Some songs are cut whole cloth from country or jazz. Other songs will blend spoken word with funk, segue to a jazzy interlude, and then break into a thrash-punk mode to close off the song. Don't like the song playing now? Wait 90 seconds and the next song will sound very different.

With the 40+ songs, it is a bit daunting to pick out individual tracks that stand out and remember which ones did immediately afterward. This album rewards the listener for repeated and repeated and repeated plays.

Is D Boon rapping on some of these tracks? Where does his spoken word approach turn into rap? There are several songs that sound like early Red Hot Chili Peppers on a relaxing day. The Minutemen weren't about being true to "hardcore," they wanted to play the music they enjoyed playing, the way they enjoyed playing it.

About two years ago, I started downloading tracks from this album after hearing their cover of Steely Dan's "Doctor Wu." The primary problem I had at the time was that I'd like a song, but by the time I was able to peek at the MP3 player, I was already a track or two later. But when I found "Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want the Truth?," it was love at first listen. A band that can sound ham-fisted from time to time had an amazing way of also having songs with guitar work that was swift, smooth, and soulful.

If your vision of "punk" is limited to Sex Pistols, Black Flag, and the Ramones, Double Nickels on the Dime will blow you away with the diversity of what a punk band can do musically.

Songs I knew I liked: "Dr. Wu," "Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want the Truth?," "#1 Hit Song," "Maybe Partying Will Help," "Toadies," and "Corona" (which you may recognize as the theme song for Jackass)

Songs I didn't know but now like: I (re)discovered an interest in "It's Expected I'm Gone," "The Glory of Man," "History Lesson Part 2," and "Jesus and Tequila"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: There aren't any I would regularly skip.