Published on Jan 18, 2001
I disagree with the title of this CD immensely. It is not the
greatest punk CD ever released but I think it is one of the better
ones to come along recently. It’s been too long since I heard a
band that, if stripped to its musical underwear, would stand tall,
both vertically and horizontally.
What I mean by that is this trio from Norwood, Massachusetts,
have a musical vision. Starting with their anthem “That’s Correct,”
bassist Mike Gurly, guitarist Lenny Lashley, and drummer Eric
Edmonston bash out short insults, such as “Sick of the bullshit/
sick of the lies/ all your complaining/ all of the time/ I don’t
know what I’ll say/ I don’t know what I’ll do/ I know it’s getting
old/ I’m getting tired of you.” How much more direct can these
lyrics be?? They can’t. The band then slides into a parody of
“Piece Of My Heart.”
Second track “Nothing at All” talks about someone being “beat
up/ . . . you smell like shit and alcohol/ . . . you’ve got no
friends/ you’ve been left with nothing at all.”The 7th, 14th, and
20th tracks of this release are three movements of a single song.
The first movement is the single word “Jerk.” The second is “You
Jerk.” The third is “You Fucking Jerk.”
Another brilliant moment is their parody of the Budweiser theme.
“Miller” proves one point: beer is beer.
“I Hate the Unseen” describes a gig the band played with the
Unseen, a band. The song is the “one thing I wish I would have
said: I hate the Unseen” because “they’re singing songs about
Social Security/ that doesn’t mean any thing to you and
me.”Following “You Fucking Jerk” is the band’s cover of the Steve
Miller Band’s “Space Cowboy.”
I imagine a Darkbuster gig is a lot of fun. This CD is a lot of
fun. It tweaks the sense of humor in the right direction and
doesn’t overstay its welcome, clocking in at 33 minutes.