On My Way is a brilliant start. It's a perfect example of snappy pop-rock, featuring nice "scratchy" verses and a catchy singalong chorus. And the sound quality is very nice, especially the meaty drums and bass guitar. A small quibble is that towards the end it drags out a bit.
Songs dragging out too long is unfortunately quite common on this album. Black Betty is a top notch effort with great frenetic energy, but it also goes on too long. Some people might dig the trance-like vibe they're going for, but I think the songs would work better as a 2-minute onslaught ala Ramones. Anyway, aside from this rant, Black Betty's cutting riffs and sharp transitions make it a mad, enjoyable romp.
On the other hand, I wish that Fucken' Awesome had a big riff, or something else to make it more than a wall of noise with an expletive-laden chorus. Jesus suffers a similar fate, although its tongue-in-cheek lyrics are a bit more interesting.
While the attempt at stadium-rock in Tonite isn't very convincing, I do appreciate the variety it brings the album. Similarly, the funk and psychodelic elements of Four On The Floor aren't my cup of tea, but it does mix things up nicely.
Back to the simplicity of pop-rock hits, Outta My Head is great fun. The energy is infectious and the riff is ultra-catchy, reminding me of Ramones "I Don't Wanna Grow Up".
For a change, the lyrics of Shazam and Buy Me A Pony are quite thoughtful and interesting. And both feature suitably headbanging accompanying music!
Perhaps the predecessor to Outta My Head, Calypso relies on the ridiculously exaggerated contrast between verse and chorus. It's a cheap trick, but it never gets old for me!
Personally speaking, Old Man Sam is wrapped up in some memories of great times, so it's impossible for me to be at all objective here. I can only assume that the band were also drunk when they wrote it! So silly, so fun.
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