The following is a Designated Cheerleader piece by @bsglaser for the Best Album of 1991 tournament. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you follow the link to vote in the tournament. Thanks!
What Would Mike Watt Do (WWMWD)? It’s not a ridiculous question—there are worse ways to orient yourself to the world. Watt is and remains forthright and inspirational, the kind of person who’d rather look foolish than feel foolish.
fIREHOSE is not his best-known/best-loved band (that would be The Minutemen), and Flyin' the Flannel is probably not this band’s best-loved record (most would probably swear by the SST years). But I’d argue that second point is mostly because Flannel has a major label logo on it, and ignores that this is fIREHOSE’s best-recorded/best-sounding record—tough and loud without being slick or overbaked, hitting a wide variety of topics and emotions without straying from the WWMWD edict to jam econo.
Flannel flies out of the gate with “Down With the Bass,” the second-best mission statement in Watt’s catalog (No. 1 would be “History Lesson, Pt. 2” from Double Nickels on the Dime), and it gets things started with fists pumping and the trio locked in to a furious groove. Right, let’s not forget fIREHOSE is not a Watt project but a band, with Minutemen drummer George Hurley and earnest singer/guitarist Ed “fROMOHIO” Crawford. These guys are airtight but flexible, partners in every note, always raging full on, even in the quiet parts.
There are some nice quiet parts here, especially the Watt-sung cover of Daniel Johnston’s “Walking the Cow.” And “Can’t Believe” is poppy in the right ways, seeming to avoid on purpose ever entirely finding its footing. What are “The First Cuss” or “Toolin’” exactly about? Beats me, but they feel just right.
Even if you just understand them generally, the 16 tracks on Flannel worry at many of the topics that are always at the center of Watt’s songwriting—friends, Pedro, work, being in motion. Watt, Hurley, and Crawford play their asses off every time, the studio not really capturing their live intensity, but still managing to make you feel like you could tear down everything and rebuild it with your bare hands. WWMWD? He’d probably tell you to vote for the other record but listen to his—fIREHOSE isn’t about winning any fake contests, and punks from the underground aren’t supposed to do their best work for the big label, but Flyin' the Flannel is something real that you can believe in.
