Before they had even released
3-Way Tie for Last
in the fall of 1985,
the Minutemen
had blocked out plans for their next album, which was to be a sprawling three-LP set featuring three sides of studio material and three sides of live recordings. Initial pressings of
3-Way Tie
included a ballot so fans could vote for the songs to be included on the live half of the upcoming album; the tragic death of
D. Boon
meant
would never make another studio album, but
Mike Watt
and
George Hurley
compiled the ballots sent in by fans and used the results as the basis for this album, which uses radio broadcasts, studio outtakes, rehearsal tapes, and audience recordings to assemble a final tribute to their fallen comrade. As you might expect, the quality of the sound varies quite a bit from track to track (though there's nothing as awful as the stuff on side two of
The Politics of Time
), and there are a few items here that were outtakes for a good reason (like the overlong version of
"Mr. Robot's Holy Orders"
or the spontaneous soundtrack improvisation
"Hell"
). But for the most part,
Ballot Result
is a fitting memorial that makes clear
were just as strong onstage as they were in the studio and that their songs were smart, provocative, adventurous, and stand up well to the test of time. The fiery first side of material from the
WREK
-FM broadcast previously bootlegged on
Just a Minute, Men
alone makes this album well worth owning, and there are plenty of other gems scattered through the rest of the set.
is hardly the ideal
Minutemen
live album, but it offers tangible evidence that they were one of the greatest American bands of their time, and that's not an accomplishment to be sneezed at. ~ Mark Deming