3-Way Tie (For Last)

3-Way Tie (For Last)
Studio album by Minutemen
Released	December 1985 (1985-12)
Recorded	August–September 1985
Genre	Punk rock [1]
Length	36:11
Label	SST (058)
Producer	Mike Watt, D. Boon, Ethan James
Minutemen chronology
Project: Mersh (1985) 3-Way Tie (For Last) (1985) Minuteflag (1986)

3-Way Tie (For Last) is the fourth and final studio album by American punk band Minutemen, released in 1985 by SST Records. It features covers of songs by the Urinals, Meat Puppets, Blue Öyster Cult, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Roky Erickson. ^[2] The last song, a cover of Erickson's "Bermuda", was sung over the phone by Mike Watt. ^[3]

The album was released very shortly before the death of D. Boon, who also painted the cover. Watt collaborated with Black Flag bassist Kira Roessler on four tracks ("Political Nightmare", "No One", "Stories", and "What Is It?"). ^[2] At around the time that the album was recorded, Watt and Roessler formed Dos.

The album included ballots for listeners to vote on the track list for what would become Ballot Result . ^[4]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
Alternative Rock	6/10 [6]
The Boston Phoenix	[7]
Creem	A [8]
The Great Rock Discography	6/10 [9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[1]

Byron Coley at Spin said, "The four lyrics here that were written by Boon (most of the others are by former Black Flag bassist Kira Roessler) deal in express terms with topics such as Vietnam, Nicaragua, and 'the men who die for glory'. As purist anti-military-industrialist rant they are as forthright in intent as Phil Ochs's songs ever were. And if they aren't quite as archly funny, well, hell, they still rock like a fuckin’ schooner." ^[10]

Track listing

Side D.

1. "Price of Paradise" (D. Boon) – 3:38
2. "Lost" (Curt Kirkwood) – 2:33
3. "The Big Stick" (Boon) – 2:34
4. "Political Nightmare" (Kira Roessler, Mike Watt) – 3:56
5. "Courage" (Boon) – 2:35
6. "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" (John Fogerty) – 2:30

Side Mike

1. "The Red and the Black" (Eric Bloom, Albert Bouchard, Sandy Pearlman) – 4:09
2. "Spoken Word Piece" (Watt) – 1:07
3. "No One" (Roessler, Watt) – 3:29
4. "Stories" (Roessler, Watt) – 1:36
5. "What Is It?" (Roessler, Watt) – 1:51
6. "Ack Ack Ack" (Johansen, Jones, Talley) – 0:27
7. "Just Another Soldier" (Boon) – 1:58
8. "Situations at Hand" (Watt) – 1:23
9. "Hittin' the Bong" (Watt) – 0:41
10. "Bermuda" (Roky Erickson) – 1:41

Personnel

Minutemen

• D. Boon  – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, piano
• Mike Watt  – bass, vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar
• George Hurley  – drums

with:

• Joe Baiza  – guitar ("Situations at Hand")
• Ethan James  – Linn drum ("What Is It?"), Vietnam War battlefield tape ("Spoken Word Piece")

Charts

Chart (1986)	Peak position
UK Indie Chart [11]	7

References

1. Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Minutemen". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). London: Fireside Books. pp.  545–546. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8 . Retrieved October 17, 2011.
2. Azerrad, Michael (2002). Our Band Could Be Your Life . Back Bay Books. pp. 90–91. ISBN   978-0-316-78753-6.
3. Watt, Mike (June 1, 2019). "Bermuda". Twitter . Retrieved June 11, 2019.
4. Hillburn, Robert (February 7, 1987). "A Votive 'Ballot' For D. Boon". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved May 15, 2019.
5. Dougan, John. 3-Way Tie at AllMusic. Retrieved 2 April 2006.
6. Thompson, Dave (April 12, 2000). "Alternative rock". San Francisco : Miller Freeman Books; Berkeley, CA : Distributed to the book trade in the U.S. and Canada by Publishers Group West; Milwaukee, WI : Distributed to the music trade in the U.S. and Canada by Hal Leonard Publishing – via Internet Archive.
7. "The Boston Phoenix 1986-02-04: Vol 15 Iss 5". Internet Archive.
8. Christgau, Robert. "Creem 1986-07: Vol 17 Iss 11". Robert Christgau.
9. Strong, Martin C. (1998). The Great Rock Discography (1st ed.). Canongate Books. ISBN   978-0-86241-827-4 . Retrieved March 15, 2020.
10. Byron Coley (April 1986). "Spins". Spin . No. 12. p. 43.
11. Lazell, Barry (1997). Indie Hits 1980-1989. Cherry Red Books. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved September 5, 2014.