fIREHOSE

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 >

Maybe Ed Crawford appeared to Mike Watt and George Hurley as in a vision, but he appears to us as their new frontman, and the courage they showed starting fresh after D. Boon took the Minutemen with him resists auralization almost as obdurately as that vision does. In short, this sound pretty good insofar as it postpunks like the old band and pretty bad insofar as it makes room for Crawford, a moderately hot guitarist whose vocal instincts are as sappy as his lyrics. (Grade: C+)