Formed by then Dinosaur Jr. member Lou Barlow as a means of creative expression away from the ever-controlling J. Mascis, who refused to allow him to submit songs, Sebadoh formed from the ideas of Sentridoh, which was essentially Barlow’s basement tapes, recording spontaneously to cassette and sold at Massachusetts record stores.

With drums contributions from Eric Gaffney, Weed Forrestin’ and The Freed Man were joined together and expanded for release as The Freed Weed on Homestead Records, and then Mascis kicked Barlow out of Dinosaur; little did he know he was about to spawn a monster. With Jason Lowenstein joining the band in 1989, the stage was set for III to become an indie rock sensation.

Before there was blogs, before there was the internet, there was word of mouth. That was how III came to most people’s attentions – a friend would pass it on, who would give it to another, and so on and so forth. With contributions from all three songwriters, it means that it’s a wild ride, from Barlow’s acoustic musings, Gaffney the hard-edged rocker, and Lowenstein offering a bridge between the two extremes.

As such, there’s nothing cohesive about the original document, or this expanded double disc edition, now with an additional eighteen track disc added to it. The remastered original is sounding a bit cleaner, but still lo-fi, while “Gimmie Indie Rock”, a pastiche anthem upon its release in 1991, is exhumed to the delight of all. After III, Gaffney left Sebadoh and the band headed to Sub-Pop before finishing on the major label Sire. But III, and arguably Bakesale, are the highlights of the band’s career. Fifteen years after initial release, this album still sounds like the epitome of indie rock.