Review Archive: A

Accustomed to Nothing  

Nothing really too fancy here, but not bad. Accustomed to Nothing remind me a little bit of face to face, but less poppy (and not quite as good a singer). There are some pretty good songs on the album, but a lot tend to sound the same. Overall I'd have to say A2N is kind of like this review: not bad and it gets the job done, but when you get down to it, there just isn't anything great or memorable there.

This Earth Sucks  

Before Sinkhole and Doc Hopper, there were the A.G's. This 34 song CD is a near-complete discography: it includes all their 7"s, their full-length album Circus Berzerkus, plus 4 previously unavailable songs. (I know of one song that's absent from this collection...and I'm glad it is.) If you've never heard the A.G's, imagine if the Descendents had a little brother and you'd be pretty close (singer Tommy Brosnan even sounds like a young Milo). Some of the songs are kinda silly ("Taking a Shit" sounds like a sequel to Descendents' "Enjoy"), others immature ("I Like Boobs"), but what else would you expect from the Amateur Gynecologists? The liner notes have Jon and Thatch taking us down memory lane with the story of the band.

Mass Nerder  

The cover the All's new album has Allroy (last seen crucified on Allroy Saves) reassembled Frankenstein-style, and it's a good symbol for All's re-resurrection (of sorts): Mass Nerder is their best album since Saves (okay, the first half of Percolator was pretty good). It follows 1987's release of Everything Sux by Descendents (which, if you didn't already know, is the same thing as All except with Milo on vocals), and is similar in sound (LOUD) and energy. Lyrics are the usual All/Descendents material: girls, friendship, touring, & the world in general. And the fact they've been around for YEARS hasn't softened them, either: "World's On Heroin" and "Greedy" are as powerful as anything they've done. Some of the best include those two songs, "Fair Weather Friend", and "Good as My Word". There are some weak points ("Vida Blue", "Romantic Junkie"), but overall it's a good to have All back again.

All   

Ten years after rising from the ashes of Descendents (who have since been reborn a couple years ago) to continue the fine pop-punk tradition the latter band helped to create, All releases a self-titled best-of compilation. There's something from all three All singers — Dave Smalley, Scott Reynolds, and (most recently) Chad Price — and the album features most of the best songs from their studio records. Of course, your favorites may differ from mine or someone else's, but the tracks selected were done in part by fan voting on All's website, so it's a good mix...though, personally, I would've rather had "Daveage" instead of "Breaking Up" (again, personal preferences). One obvious omission, though, is "Carnage".
      Some of the music — especially the guitar on older songs — was re-recorded to more closely match their current harder style, which helps make the album a bit more consistent than if they had just taken the original versions. All starts off with what may be their best song, "Crazy", that was originally hidden as the b-side on the "She's My Ex" single. It continues through "Just Perfect", "Nothin", "Skin Deep", "Right", and 17 more. And Milo Aukerman (Descendents singer, for those not familiar with the band's history) sings on an updated version of "Just Like Them", a song that he wrote and originally performed with his post-Descendents band, Milestone. All is not only a good record for new All listeners, but also for old fans to hear a bunch of their best stuff in one easy package.

Onehundredpercentfreak   

I actually saw Alligator Gun live (I think opening for Smoking Popes, but I'm not 100% sure) and thought they were pretty good. But this album is more memorable than their show, partly because of the many times I've listened to Onehundredpercentfreak (I can't help it--I like it). Some of the songs are repetitive, but overall this is good pop/punk/rock.

The Allston Beat  

Is it possible for a band to be better than The Allstonians? Probably, but it ain't easy. In the world of ska, there are a lot of mediocre bands (many doing the ska-core thing to death) but there's no beating a traditional ska band — especially one as good as The Allstonians. Their style is rooted in 60's ska, but the sound is totally fresh.. The boys from Allston are smooth as hell, have a killer horn section, and — here's the most important piece of the puzzle — write really good songs. As you'd expect, there are some amazing instrumentals here ("Doctor Ché Guevara", "Can't Say") and a couple songs about the Boston area ("The Allston Beat", "Brighton Memories") — 15 tracks in all, and not a stinker among them. I was even surprised at "Emily Slumber", a beautiful, sad song (the strings really add immensely to it). I can't say enough good things about The Allston Beat — if you like ska at all, you need this album. If you don't like this album, you don't like ska...

The best band in Providence has a new single that features three songs you'll remember from their incredible live show (assuming you've seen them...and you should if you haven't already): the totally rocking "Fireball Stomp," "Jalapeno" (an instrumental), and the mellower "Hat-Size." The Crowns fucking rule.

The Amazing Royal Crowns  

The first full-length from the Amazing Royal Crowns is just that. (Originally just the Royal Crowns, they added the "Amazing" after learning of a band called Royal Crown Revue....then were forced to drop the "Royal" part altogether). More than their previous singles, this CD better captures the fun and intensity of their incredible live performances. If you live in or around Providence, there's a damn good chance you know the Crowns; if you don't, here's your chance to hear some punk rockabilly RC style. Fast and furious is the key here — these 12 songs clock in at just over 27 minutes — and the band is tighter than ever. King Kendall sings, screams and hiccups over The Colonel's amazing guitar work, with the rhythm section supplied by string bassist The Swinger and new drummer Supereight Nate (the Crowns go through more drummers than Spinal Tap...). Every song is a winner on this album; some of my favorites include "Scene of the Crime," "Do the Devil" (performed with the help of CT ska band Spring Heeled Jack horn section), "Wreckin' Machine," and "Mr. Lucky." But be sure to catch them live to get the complete Crowns experience.

A New Kind of Army   

Most of today's punk is either crap or just OK; I rarely hear stuff that really gets me excited anymore. But listening to Pittsburgh's Anti-Flag makes me feel like I did listening to punk years ago — excited, energized, happy. Anti-Flag kind of remind me of Gorilla Biscuits, not so much the musical style (GB was more hardcore, whil A-F is more melodic), but in their attitudes: a positive outlook (almost to a fault), unwillingness to give in or give up, and the firm believe that they can make change happen. At least they're not naive about the difficult task of trying to bring peace and unity to the world: on "No Difference" Justin Sane sings "Society says that we're crazy with utopian unreal goals, but we're fighting for something we truly believe."
      Anti-Flag continue to have a more political edge to their lyrics on A New Kind of Army. They're not anti-American (clearly stated on the album cover) — they're anti-govermnent, anti-big business, anti-police brutality (is anyone pro-police brutality?), pro-gay, pro-womyn, and probably most imporantly anti-war. The "New Kind of Army" they're calling for is one that's "too smart to fight, too smart to kill." All the songs are fast and energetic with screaming, passionate vocals; the only breaks are with "That's Youth" (with a bit of ska to it) and "This is NOT a Crass Song" (a kind of silly song sung with fake British accents). Great album.

Look Forward to Failure  

This 6-song EP sounds just like you'd expect a Fat Wreck band to sound: poppy, energetic, Lag Wagonesque — not very original, but not bad, either. Songs are mostly silly love songs ("That Special Girl", "San Dimas High School Football Rules" — a line from Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey which is unrelated to the song), and one is a love song to Claire Danes ("My So-Called Life"). The Ataris aren't a bad band, it's just that this kind of thing has been done to death. The best song on this EP, "Between You and Me", strays from the "typical" Fat Wreck sound and has more of an emo-core style to it, and ends up making more of an impact than when hiding behind a bubblegum punk curtain.