Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
Outstanding choice, Jerome!
I've loved the Minutemen since I first heard them live in Richmond, VA (anyone know "The Fan") in 1983. If you like Double Nickels, check out What Makes a Man Start Fires?, Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat and Three Way Tie (for last), which has my favorite MM song, "The Big Stick." If you remember Ronald Reagan and the war in Nicaragua, how can you not appreciate lyrics like "Over there in Managua Square, American made bombs are falling everywhere. They kill women and children and animals too, these bombs are made by both me and you. We're told we hold a big stick over there."
We seem to have similar taste all over the place (from heavy metal to punk to Indie to Jazz), so I don't think I'll spoil your thread by mentioning a couple of other non-audiophile favorites of mine:
Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
Daydream Nation is widely considered as one of the great alternative masterpieces of the 1980s. I bought this album when it first came out and it is one of the few that I have continued to listen to often over the years. It has the energy, wit and rawness of punk mixed with the epic scope of progrock.
1. Teen Age Riot - Utterly brilliant. Great lyrics, riffage, drumming, craftsmanship - everything.
2. Silver Rocket - Opens with doomy arpeggios and riffs. A very angry sounding song, and an excellent one, but the rock song doesn't last long - it moves into pure distortion before the second minute.
3. The Sprawl - Fantastic lyrics, ridiculously cool. Threatening sounding. Breaks down for the last few minutes.
4. Cross The Breeze - Gorgeous opening riff but soon moves into complex, fast art-punk. Great use of guitar duetting.
5. Eric's Trip - Sounds drug-fuelled. Very atmospheric and dark.
6. Total Trash - Good, memorable but sounds similar to whats gone before it.
7. Hey Joni - Ditto.
8. Providence - Dark, artsy, neo-classical piece blending stark piano with a spoken sample and rumblings. Different, but not much of a composition on its own.
9. Candle - Opens with the most gorgeous guitar work you could imagine, then goes into good but standard fare.
10. Rain King - The most distorted, dischordant, challenging song and with the exception of Providence the least conventional. Screaming, burning, angry, excellent.
11. Kissability - Good lyrically, somewhat insubstantial musically until the last few seconds.
12. Trilogy - This song has everything you could want in its 14 minutes: straight-up rock, beauty, dischord, artsy - often all these at once.
Pixies, Doolittle
Doolittle is, quite simply, the Pixies best album. It is an absolute masterpiece. There is no filler whatsoever. It starts out with the raw, catchy "Debaser", moves onto the far from "Tame", which transitions so well between quiet whispers and screeching (but somehow melodic) vocals. And then there's "Wave of Mutilation", a wonderful bit of surf music reminiscent of the Beach Boys. And "I Bleed", a spectacular duet between the anguished voice of the lead singer, Black Francis, and the sweet chick-crooning of Kim Deal, who went on to form the Breeders. Then there's the pop masterpiece, "Here Comes Your Man", the anxious "Dead", the powerful "Monkey Gone to Hell and the disturbing "Mr. Grieves"... and the album ends with the incredible "Gouge Away." There is not much more I can say except Doolittle is incredible. Borrow a copy from a friend if you' don't have it, but somehow you must listen to this album.