3-Way Tie was released in 1985, shortly after the unfortunate passing of singer/ guitarist/ founder D. Boon. After D.'s passing, the group called it quits and has never released a new set of songs under the Minutemen name, out of respect for D. Boon. In fact, the remaining members were ready to quit music all-together, and nearly did, but after some encouragement from fellow bands on the scene, they did go off to do side projects. 3-Way Tie; therefore, is the final statement that the band made, and while I can't say that it is my favorite, there are still some strong moments here, and an entirely new focus for the band, sound-wise.
Up until this point, the band had a sound that brought to mind the sounds of post-punk and jittery experimental rock that would go on to influence bands like The Pixies, with the occasional experiment in jazz, or even rockabilly. But on this LP, the band wholeheartedly embraced a sound that I can only describe as alt-country. The opening cut "The Price of Paradise" reminds me a lot of what a band like Drive-By Truckers would be doing half a decade later and there is even a CCR cover on this album in the form of "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?". In fact, covers are pretty prevalent on this album, and while I'm not really a fan of multiple covers on a proper studio LP, the ones on offer here are certainly stamped with enough Minutemen personality to make them at least worth a listen.
However, despite being a pretty significant change for the group stylistically, a change that conceptually I'm all for, this LP does suffer in my opinion from over production. The Minutemen, for all of their superior abilities as musicians, never were ones to overthink their production; for example, an EP like Buzz or Howl was mostly recorded live and the tracks that weren't were recorded cheaply, which led to the entire project only costing around $50. And while I don't think higher production values are an inherently bad thing, even for punk, (heck, my favorite Ramones album was heavily produced) I can't help but fell like these songs lose a lot of guts with this kind of recording. For instance, on a track like "The Price of Paradise" or "Courage", two tracks with strong anti-war messages, I don't feel so much like rising to the call as much as I feel like taking a nice anti-war nap.
Again, this is not because the songs are bad, this is simply a matter of the production covering up a lot of the greatness. Sadly, this means that 3-Way Tie is the only Minutemen record that I wouldn't recommend unless you're absolutely a fan. It's not bad, it's just not great in my opinion.
As far as the entire discography is concerned, I urge you to check out everything up until this LP, this is punk/ experimental rock at its DIY peak, one that very few bands in my experience have come close to.
7.5/10
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