Several hundred years ago, when a fella by the name of William Shakespeare wrote the lines “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate blah blah blah,” he could’ve been referring to many things. Perhaps your English teachers will tell you, “This is a sonnet to a man, and that’s it! It’s not about a woman, it’s not about a cat, and it’s definitely not about a limited-edition Lou Barlow cassette release from the late 80s getting reissued as a self-released Sentridoh album!!!!” But they would be wrong. Because Will Shakespeare was a man who understood BEAUTY. And what could be more lovely than a limited-edition Lou Barlow cassette release from the late 80s getting reissued?
See, back in 1987-88, Lou Barlow’s first solo noodlin’s were released as Weed Forestin’ on two runs of cassettes, as new tracks were added. The total release consisted of a mere 100 tapes — some of which were sold, some of which were given away. (True fact: in Boston, several copies were given away for free with Barlow’s band Dinosaur Jr.’s masterpiece You’re Living All Over Me, which came out around the same time.) Barlow and drummer Eric Gaffney billed themselves as Sentridoh and a thing of beauty was born. In 1988, the band became Sebadoh, with the release of Freed Man. In 1989, Homestead Records signed Sebadoh and released a vinyl version of Weed Forestin’ under the group’s new name. The next year, the first Sebadoh record — a combo of Freed and a “clumsily-edited” (Lou’s words) version of Weed — was released on CD. In 2007, Domino put out a spiffed-up version of Freed, but Weed still languished… until 2012 when Barlow and pal Maxwell Wood decided to do a deluxe LP reissue of Weed Forestin’, complete with unreleased material and tape collages on a cassette called Child of the Apocalypse. Fans will also get a USB drive with both Weed and Child and short music-inspired films by British artist Daryl Waller.
The digital version is out now via Bandcamp. Fans can cop handmade double CDs and cassettes on March 6. The deluxe LP and regular LP hit stores March 27.
Tracklisting:
01. Temporary Dream
02. New Worship
03. Subtle Holy Gift
04. My Own Religion
05. Ride the Darker Wave
06. More Simple
07. Jealous of Jesus
08. Mr. Genius Eyes
09. Perfect Power
10. Feeding Evil
11. Sexual Confusion
12. Three Times a Dog
13. Gate to Hell
14. Broken
15. Whitney Peach
16. I Can’t See
17. Take My Hand
18. Pound My Skinny Head
19. I Believe in Fate
20. Waited Forever
21. Slightest Suggestion
22. It’s So Hard to Fall in Love
23. Brand New Love
• Lou Barlow: http://www.loobiecore.com
• Sentridoh: http://sentridoh.bandcamp.com
