When MINUTEMEN frontman D.BOON died suddenly at 27 in a head-on car crash on December 23rd. 1985, critic Robert Christgau wrote that his demise "for wasted potential has Lennon and Hendrix for company."
A controversial statement for sure, although it's undoubtedly true that the San Pedro trio proved themselves as southern California's finest hardcore outfit during the initial half of the '80s; their courage, innovation and musical ability in tackling anything from jazz to funk to power pop whilst cramming in a myriad of lyrical ideas still ensures that several of their LPS - most notably "What Makes A Man Start Fires?" (1982) and 1984's tour de force "Double Nickels On The Dime" - deserve a place on any half-discerning listener's shelf.
However, though I'm still a confessed Minutemen head, I have to dispute one aspect of their inevitable myth: the part that says that had D.Boon lived they would have stormed the major labels and cruised to widespread commercial success. Hmmm...
Well, while I've no doubt that the Minutemen would'e retained their influence and respectable cult status, rather like WIRE and GUIDED BY VOICES, their all-too abrupt songs (usually clocking in around 1 and a half minutes), oblique (if sometimes hilarious) lyrical concerns and feverish tempo changes would definitely have struggled to hook in the great unwashed beyond the campus'n'club circuit.
And, while you could probably fling similar accusations at the remaining Minutemen Mike Watt (bass) and George Hurley(drums) subsequent incarnation as FIREHOSE, their ultimate demise in 1995 has failed to produce such a respected legacy and that's particularly shocking considering the band's standing in the pre-Cobain late 1980s.
"Fomohio", the third FIREHOSE full-on outing from 1989, is unquestionably the brightest sparkler in this overlooked pile of nuggets. In typical Mike Watt style, the title refers to Boon's replacement guitarist/ vocalist Ed Crawford (or Ed Fromohio), who hails from...yeah, you guessed it...while, for once, the trio eschewed their normal Californian base to record at Suma Studios in Painesville, Ohio, with PERE UBU acolyte Paul Hamann at the controls.
Now you'll have to excuse me while I come on all Luddite here, but "Fromohio" harks back to those halcyon days of the lat '60s and '70s when artists made albums clocking in at around the 30-minute mark. Yeah, I Know the CD Revolution's put paid to that (and MP3s are taking it further still), but this is still the sort of glorious exercise that says it's piece and gets the hell out leaving you salivating to play it again. Right away.
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In fact, "Fromohio" essentially encapsulates everything that was great about both the FIREHOSE and MINUTEMEN experiences:- the boundless energy and economy: the ability to go from (quick plug) whisperin' to hollerin' in a second and take in both deep-throated Watt spiels and Crawford's poppier leanings.
Most of this is unashamedly "mersh"(that's 'commercial' to us straights) by 'hose standards and it's even more effective for that. There's numerous highlights - Crawford's salsa-tinged "In My Mind"; Watt's crazed, uber-spiel "What Gets Heard" and the faux-folk "Liberty For Our Friend", written with BLACK FLAG'S Kira. Side two, especially, proudly displays its' linear pop credentials with "Time With You", "Understanding" and "Some Things" showing the band could stretch comfortbly in that area should they so desire.
Ironically, FIREHOSE probably came over considerably less commercially after finally signing with Columbia in 1991, despite some further fine records (particularly 1993's swansong "Mr.Machinery Operator"). Yet, whenever you return to "Fromohio" you again access all that was positive and special (plus the odd bits of dicking about) about the plaid-shirted US underground before NIRVANA inadvertently opened the Grunge floodgates and the pale imitators surfed through on a festering tide of suicidal angst.
Though released before the dawn of the '90s, "Fromohio" stands on the Millennial doorstep, kickin' out the technology and gettin' back to the hotwired energy. Why the fuck can't we follow their lead again now?
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