 "The best ever!" | 2008-03-31 |
| - Reviewed By pavement74 |
| I believe I have listened to this album more than any other in my collection. Powerful, angry, just incredible. I literally wore out the tape. It never gets boring! |
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 "Unique" | 2008-03-10 |
| - Reviewed By gutterdude |
This isn't actually a real review I just wanted to commented on something somebody said. That this isn't punk. For one, punk isn't a sound. Secondly this is more post punk. Its DIY that's what is punk about it. Oh and this guy actually said "IF U PPL THINK U CAN HANDLE TRU HARDCORE PUNK THEN CHECK OUT OLD KORN AND LIMP BIZKIT P.O.D. OR STAIND." lmao. What? Are you serious? True hardcore punk=old korn, limp bizkit, pod, and staind? There is a sound associated with punk even though punk its self doesn't have a sound. And that sound is defiantly not the sound of any of those bands. Minor threat, black flag, circle jerks, fear. Thats true hardcore punk in my mind (sound anyways). lol...limp bizkit.
Now, too the album. Not very many standout songs. I feel myself wanting to like it more than I do. It has a good bass and unique sound. I just think the songs themselves could be better. Though there are gems like corona and vietnam. I'm not sure I can justify buying this album at it's current price =/. So why the four stars? Corona and vietnam are hella good songs. Some others too. |
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 "Like Zen Arcade without the raw emotion, Pink Flag without the aggression..." | 2008-03-01 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2YHBBZ8W3ULQQ |
| From the uninspired funk-punk sound of the music right down to the crude drawings in the liner notes, Double Nickels on the Dime has the aura of a mindless frat-rock record. It does not seethe with passion or righteous anger, and it is not loud or fast. There are so many songs and not enough ideas that a lot of them end up sounding the same. The lyrics are clever and the music is interesting at times, but Double Nickels on the Dime is too long and too uninspired. It doesn't sound much like punk, either; its sound is more funk and alternative with a little bit of punk influence. It's definitely not hardcore. The sound is much less sincere than other albums that handle the "lots of short songs" format more successfully; Double Nickels on the Dime expresses fewer emotions and instead sounds like it would better fit a party. |
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| "Hard to categorize" | 2008-01-23 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3336O386OBJDS |
| Ditto Mr Solidays previous reveiw!I have owned this double ALBUM since it hit the racks.Got it when I saw a video for This Aint No Picnic on MTV.Mustve listened to it and it didnt hit me.Its alot to digest!Well about 6 montha ago I copied it to mini-disc,then to cd and now its on my I-Tunes!Amazing,Im trying to get my 12yr old into it and he likes it.I listen to this in headphones start to finish when Im sorting mail in the morning.Cant get it outta my player!! Mike Watt rules!Jazz-rock-punk and country;all with a good sense of humor and anger! |
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| "$1,100 for one of the best rock albums ever? That's just filthy!" | 2008-01-06 |
| - Reviewed By lisadan5 |
First of all, an embarrasing admission. I stumbled onto the Minutemen just recently, thanks to an off the cuff comment by some poster in another forum. Whoever you are, thank you, thank you, thank you. Back in the early 80's I didn't have much time or income to explore the L.A. punk scene except for X (another great band by the way). Thank God I didn't die before hearing the Minutemen. Double Nickels on the Dime is without a doubt one of the best, if not THE best, rock and roll albums I have ever heard.
DNOTD sounds amazingly fresh even today. In short, this is timeless music that can't be easily categorized. The musicianship on this album is tops, the songwriting excellent, and while D. Boon may not have been the greatest singer, his singing is very effective on this album. I can understand if you have been raised on radio, listening to formula rock all your life, that you won't get this album. But if you have an open mind, and enjoy a variety of different music styles, then you can't help but be completely blown away by DNOTD.
At this point in my life, I have listened to thousands upon thousands of musical recordings in so many different genres. I'm hard pressed to find anything that can best the Minutemen playing DNOTD. Then, consider that this double album was produced for $1,100 in 1983/84. $1,100? That boggles the mind!!
I give this recording my highest possible recommendation. |
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| "Take that, Sandinsita!" | 2007-11-14 |
| - Reviewed By mwarren122 |
You know the theme song for the show jack@$$? The song that sounds like some joke band wrote, making fun of country if anything else? It was actually by Minutemen, and is found on this album. The song is Corona, just one song on this 43-track album. 43 different sounds is hard to come up with. It's an ambitious album, and the songs, as mentioned before, are short. The great thing is that at least....... damn, I don't even know how many great songs there are! It's certainly a sprawling album, and the fact that the music is great (with variety !!!), just makes things better.
Most punk bands like to play loud as _____ and agressive, not Minutemen. The three piece power trio adds another talented trio. Three people? No worries. D., Mike, and George are all talented, and with their talent, were able to make clean (and messy) music. Mike Watt is especially good at the bass, his basslines are audible and pop like no other. He's no Les Claypool when it comes to techniquallity, he dosen't exactly take up lead instrument, but he's a talented bassist. Any aspiring bassist should give this guy a listen.
Double Nickels On The Dime may have a few... or some, clunky tracks on here, but at 74 minutes, that's not going to be a problem. In fact, there isn't a horrible song, there are a average songs, but there not even bad. A great value, and even better, this stuff is just a blast to play on guitar, bass, or drums. Not a musician? No worries. There's a solution.
One word: Air
9.0/10 |
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| "Miss the Van Halen Cover....but it still rocks" | 2007-11-03 |
| - Reviewed By jnscott8 |
I bought this album in the 80's and have nothing now to play the plastic on.
They got rid of the "Ain't Talkin 'bout Love" cover!!!!!. WTF......That was the whole reason I blindly downloaded the album!!!
The omission totally sucks but the rest is still golden. Heck, the 20+ year-old vynil version I had didn't have the 'original' explicit version of the cover so even then it had been diluted by The Conspiracy.
Still, just one more example of how you can't go back and recapture the glory you thought was the past.
Screw it! Its still a five star package!!!! |
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| "Fascinating and fun" | 2007-03-09 |
| - Reviewed By colinaustin3 |
| I was inspired to look back to this amazing release by the book Our Band Could Be Your Life, and I wasn't disappointed. I only had a vague recollection of the Minutemen from the 80s so I wasn't quite sure what was in store, but even a typically tinny SST production job can't mask the raw creativity, energy and excitement over the course of an almost ridiculous 43(!) tunes. |
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| "Sometimes I forget" | 2006-11-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: ABGL7IY96CM57 |
| the confusion that this thing caused. I quibbled about this snippet or that fragment's length or theme or placement and then always eventually realized that good albums have been made of just one of these ideas. Wow. I just listened for the first time in a few years and my confusion has been renewed. How did they do it? |
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| "Essential album. Lame reissue!" | 2006-08-02 |
| - Reviewed By ifutureman2 |
I rank Double Nickels on the Dime in the top ten albums released in the 80's. I am very glad I held onto my vinyl because for reasons I can't fathom, three songs on the original release are not on this reissue, which is why I am not giving it the five stars this album deserves.
Minutemen really were not like any other band, so it's hard to compare them to anyone. This album is generally, and rightfully, considered the band's masterpiece - this is their best synthesis of funk, punk, noise, folk, rock, and whatever else crossed their fertile minds during the feverish recording of this 46-song double (vinyl anyway) album.
Volumes have been written about this one already and mostly it's all correct - as long as the writers agree that this is truly one of the greatest albums ever. It's like ten careers' worth of ideas are crammed into just short of 80 minutes of the most fascinating rock music ever created.
So what is the deal with the missing tracks? I won't lie to you - if you see this album in some vinyl bin, grab it because all three of these songs are as good as several relatively weaker songs that are on the reissue:
"Mr. Robot's Holy Orders (Hurley/Watt)" - this was track 3, side 3 ("side george" - the inner clear part of the vinyl has "DANCE MUSIC IS THE NEW PASTURE" etched into it). This is a great funky song that deserves to be here far more than, say, the god-awful cover version of Doctor Wu (the one song on this album I don't like). But the exclusion of this track is nowhere near as egregious as the absence of ...
"Ain't Talkin' Bout Love" - (Van Halen) - The Amazon review above alludes to the fact that in its original form, this album featured a hysterical cover of the Van Halen classic - and this is the version to have. The one on "Tour Speil" pales by comparison. They bashed out a 38-second version of it which was originally on side 4 (untitled - "CHUMP ROCK IS THE NEW COOL"), and it kills me that they left it off this reissue!!! The song is 38 seconds long! There is plenty of room on the CD for it, and "Mr Robot's Holy Orders" too for that matter. (total running time of this album: 74:50 - ATBL would have been no problem at all) It can't be a copyright issue - their other version of the same song is available on Project Mersh Vol. 3. What gives???
"Little Man With A Gun In His Hand" - a better sounding version, because the bass is much fuller sounding than the still great version on Buzz or Howl. Plus, this version has a real ending.
The senseless excission of great songs is the only gripe I have with what is still an album for the ages.
By the way, side 1 was "side d." - "ARENA ROCK IS THE NEW WAVE" and side 2 was "side watt" - "PUNK ROCK IS THE NEW NOSTALGIA".
Buy this album. Make a gift of it to anyone who calls him/herself open-minded. But keep your eyes open for the vinyl version. |
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