Album Review: Sebadoh - Bubble and Scrape (Reissue)

Originally published in Soundcheck Magazine (7/30/08)

Ah, Sebadoh: lo-fi’s silver medalists. They are the Goodfellas to Pavement’s Godfather - no matter how much you love them, the other guys will always get the highest pedestal. Stephen Malkmus and company even beat them to the reissue punch back in 2002 with their Luxe and Reduxe version of Slanted and Enchanted. Whether this sibling rivalry is deserved or not is moot - in fact, lingering just adjacent to the spotlight has given Sebadoh a bit more mystique than their concrete co-stars.

Finally, though, Sebadoh has decided to release a much-deserved and much-needed reissue with a dust-off of their 1993 Sub Pop release, Bubble and Scrape. The reissue tacks 15 oddball extras onto the already-kaleidoscopic track list, and, rather expectedly, the bonus songs range from the lush to the ludicrous.

It’s difficult to compete with some of the original material, from the valium-folk of “Happily Divided” to the abrasive groove of “Emma Get Wild”. The bonus material kicks off with a striking cover of the Necros’ “Reject”, equipped with the same haunting sincerity and stuffy-closet recording quality as another ‘90s band’s “rarities” release: Nirvana’s With the Lights Out. Also recalling some of Kurt Cobain’s many hidden (until recently) introspections are the wistful acoustic rendering of “Soul and Fire” and an even looser version of “Flood”.

While these alternative cuts add depth to some already-loved songs, many of Sebadoh’s unreleased tracks are complete throwaways. A few, like the four consecutive, untitled tracks that are merely labeled “Part 1” through “4”, may leave some listeners wondering if they are even listening to music at all. The one exception is “Old Daze”, which sees singer-songwriter Lou Barlow cough out a rabid growl that is pushed along by, strangely enough, a killer blues riff.

As an entire unit, this new version of Bubble and Scrape is a bit much to swallow. For newcomers to the band, and even casual listeners, it’s probably better to stick with the original 17 tracks - or, even better yet, back up a couple albums and check out their masterpiece, Sebadoh III. Bubble and Scrape does have some emotional poignancy, though, in that it was the last album that co-founder Eric Gaffney participated in. While the albums that followed were mostly still good, they don’t carry the delightful delirium that habitually pulled listeners in strange, new directions in the past. As it stands, Bubble and Scrape is a worthy album to reissue, and the bonus songs, if nothing more, add new sonic textures to the oddball persona that is Sebadoh.

-Andy Pareti