MINUTEMEN’S WAR LEDGER

“3-WAY TIE (FOR LAST).” Minutemen. SST.

Inevitably, this album is colored by the knowledge that main Minuteman D. Boon died in a highway accident shortly after it was recorded. While his tough-minded music suggests that he’d firmly resist sentimental urges, there’s a tendency to hear an extra edge of poignance in “3-Way Tie”--especially in John Fogerty’s soaring, bittersweet “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” Taken together, the songs form a ledger on the causes and costs of war, and to make the political points unmistakable, the San Pedro trio offers its most accessible music yet. In place of jazzy coloration and oblique beats are chunky power chords that mist at the edges, strong, straightforward drum riffs and gruff, dusty vocals. Boon, Mike Watt and George Hurley toss in some blues, folk, funk and Latin touches for variety, and their performance maintains a thrilling level of instinctive interplay.