The Refreshments- Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy

This is the debut album from The Refreshments. It was released in 1996, four years after they formed.

Things kick off with Blue Collar Suicide, which is pretty generic 1990s rock. Not really inspiring, but I guess it's fine for an opener.

European Swallow is raises the bar by revealing the band's talent: a strong sense of attitude in the vocals. As in "you've got an attitude problem, son"! Somehow I really enjoy getting into this mood while listening, with the tongue firmly planted in cheek. Having said that, unfortunately I find European Swallow to be musically quite bland.

But Down Together and Girly both hit the nail on the head, and I'm not really sure what makes the difference, compared to European Swallow. Maybe it's the non-sequitur lyrics. Maybe because they're more similar to Banditos...

Ahhh... Banditos. The sole reason I purchased this album, and still a massive drawcard for me. It has the aforementioned attitude (I really like the random grunts througout!) and oddball narrative in spades. It's topped off with some super-catchy pop hooks and a great singalong chorus. Fantastic.

The album takes a more melancholy approach from here on, and it isn't my cup of tea. However, I'm always a sucker for an off-beat guitar, so of course I really like Mekong.

Favourite songs

Down Together, Mekong, Girly, Banditos

I diggit?

It's probably a case of "less is more" for me here. There's a handful of songs I enjoy here, but the other 8 or so songs often feel like eating one's veggies in order to get to the dessert. On the other hand, I bought this on the strength of Banditos alone (it's on one of my favourite car tapes), so any enjoyment found in the rest of the album is probably a bonus.

Dragon- Cuts From The Tough Times

Dragon were originally formed in 1975 and were still touring as recently as a couple of years ago. However this compilation covers the period of 1984 - 1986.

I purchased this compilation solely based on one chorus (can you guess which one??). This is despite the new-wave genre not being my cup of tea.

...And this CD has done nothing to change that.

I find many of the songs annoying, and the "highlight" is merely the songs I'm completely nonplussed about. There are a few songs with catchy choruses, but the choruses soon get played to death and are all quite similar, so this appeal wears off quickly. 

It isn't helped by the thin new-wave sound, which neuters the punch from the drums, bass and vocals. Also, the peaks and troughs within each song have been sanded away into constant, nonchalant blandness (like many modern pop songs).

However... then there is Rain. The lyrics are nicely poetic and full of great imagery. And the pre-chorus perfectly builds up the anticipation. Anticipation which is resolved with an incredibly exhilarating chorus.

Favourite songs

Rain

I diggit?

Nope. Rain is a highlight, but I'd be perfectly happy with hearing it occasionally on the radio.

Los Chicos- We Sound Amazing But We Look Like Shit

This is Los Chicos' fourth album, which was released in 2009. My introduction to the band was by unintentionally seeing a live gig of theirs. I had a blast, and purchased this album.

The first song, A Band, gets straight into the self-indulgent party rock. Unfortunately, in this case both the lyrics and instrumental fail to inspire. Headphones improves things with its infectious energy, but after a chorus or two I find it a bit of a one-trick pony.

We Sound Amazing But We Look Like Shit is basically more of the same, but with the added appeal of some amusing lyrics. This must be the magic ingredient that was previously missing, because I quite enjoy this song.

The rockabilly-esque style of Brothers From Different Mothers works very well, and gives some much-needed variety.

By the time we get to Manu & Pina's Excellent Adventure, the energy is still there in spades, but it's all getting pretty stale for me. Perhaps this is largely due to the lyrics again having very little appeal. It's a similar story for the next few songs, too.

Thankfully, the album ends on a high, thankds to the honky-tonk piano variety provided by What's Cookin', and the wonderfully oddball Not Tonight.

Favourite songs

We Sound Amazing But We Look Like Shit, Brothers From Different Mothers 

I diggit?

If they ever came back for another gig, I'd be there in a heartbeat. The album certainly has its highlights, but I can't help thinking that whenever I'm in this kind of mood, I'd reach for an album by The Hives' instead.

Various- Short Music For Short People

This punk compilation features 101 songs(!) and was released in 1999. I won't sit here and comment on all 101 songs, so here are highlights (ie whittled down to "just" the top 20...)

Many of the bands approached the 30-second songs as an opportunity for an immature quick gag. Fizzy Bangers, Terrorgruppe, Samian (nice banjo work!) and No Means No are all good for a quick laugh. Special mention goes to Aerobridge for the tale of footwear masturbation (of course!) and The Mr. T Experience for cramming as many profanities as possible into 30 seconds. Blink-182 also excelled with the "Parental Advisory" content, with a song that is also happens to have an engaging musical structure. Great stuff, I reckon.

At the other end of the seriousness spectrum, punk-rock is one of few genres where 30 seconds worth of song is plenty for a complete artwork. It's quite incredible, really. Perhaps this compilation has invented one of the purest artforms ever, with the song stripped back to its essence of verse, chorus and conclusion. Anyway, enough philosophising... the songs from Chixdiggit, The Living End, The Ataris, Lagwagon, No Use For A Name, 59 Times The Pain, Dance Hall Crashers (with their trademark silky-smooth style providing a nice contrast), One Man Army, Pennywise, 7 Seconds, The Queers, Radio Days and Nicotine are all nicely "complete" short songs, which lack nothing for being restricted to 30 seconds.

The icing on the cake is Bad Religion, who have produced 39-second perfection. Their song is a wonderfully structured musical journey, complete with a variety of styles and a nice progression tying it all together.

Favourite songs

Fizzy Bangers, Terrorgruppe, Aerobridge, Blink-182, The Mr. T Experience, Samiam, No Means No, Chixdiggit, Bad Religion, The Ataris, Lagwagon, 59 Times The Pain, No Use For A Name, Dance Hall Crashers, One Man Army, Pennywise, 7 Seconds, The Queers, Radio Days, Nicotine
 

I diggit?

Yes, the fun may be sliced into 30-second increments, but there's still plenty of it.

Wolfgang Parker- Room Nineteen

Room Nineteen is Wolfgang Parker's third album. It was released in 2007, seven years after Octoboure.

Among The Ash Heaps jumps straight in to a furiousl introduction to the style of glam-rock meets neo-swing. The song rapidly jumps all over the place, but somehow the disjointed structure just adds to the thrill-a-minute appeal. So I really enjoy the hooks, the energy and the style which holds it all together. It's the perfect modern implementation of a band rocking out in pinstripe suits.

Shiseido, Room Nineteen and The Heat are more of the same, and the results are also fantastic and unique. Boiled down to its essence, the combination of crunching rock guitars and a swung ride cymbal works a treat. Room Nineteen also features some standout lyrics, thanks to the very vivid (and sometimes disturbing) Tarrantino-esque storytelling.

This is a bit nit-picky, but these heavier songs have some strange quirks in their recording quality: a very synthesised reverb for the vocals and several high-pitched sounds - such as an open hi-hat - feeling "scratchy" rather than sweet. Also, I find the higher frequencies slightly muffled in general.

Mata Hari sees the album slow down for a softer ballad style. But rather than disappointment that they've taken the foot off the pedal (the distortion pedal? sorry, that was a terrible pun...), the wonderfully poetic lyrics and strong mood make this enjoyable in its own way.

Half Way Around The World is also dripping with a more relaxed style, thanks to the piano part. Although I do find the chorus quite forgettable. Sing Baby Swing is more of the same, and this time the chorus is a catchy highlight.

It's time for a dose of insanity with The Mice The Demons And The Piggies. The obscure, madman lyrics are a highlight of the album for me. And the infectious yet oddball jitterbug style is a highlight in its own right, also nicely building in intensity throughout the song. It all adds up to brilliant left-field fun.

Lonely Just Like Me also has a dose of frenetic madness, this time a bit more serious, but again with great storytelling and some beautiful metaphors.

Smoothly crooning vocals and very regimented backing instruments (almost with military uniformity) seems like an awkward combination, but Whisper Something German brings them together. Brilliantly. This strange contrast that results is indeed perfectly summarised by the phrase "whisper something German in my ear"!

To Say You Love Me sees the album briefly return to headbanging glam-rock. Which is another example that rock'n'roll plus swing is indeed a perfect recipe!

Then, on the other hand, Blood Red Water is a beautifully soft and gentle ballad. It never ceases to amaze me how something so humble can be just as powerful.

Favourite songs

Among The Ash Heaps, Shiseido, Room Nineteen, The Heat, Mata Hari, Sing Baby Swing, The Mice The Demons And The Piggies, Lonely Just Like Me, Whisper Something German, To Say You Love Me, Blood Red Water

I diggit?

Very much so.

Dean Kennedys- Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death

This compilation was released in 1987, one year after the album Bedtime For Democracy.

My favourite moments for the Dead Kennedys are usually while they have a rockabilly-esque groove going on, such as Police Truck and Holiday In Cambodia. The menacing groove is nicely complemented by the jangly guitars. For Holiday In Cambodia, it gets even better with the vocals, thanks to some wonderfully vivid and biting lyrics.

However, most of the other songs on this CD fall at the other end of the scale, unfortunately. While I'm normally quite receptive to a bit of immature, tongue-in-cheek punk; songs such as Life Sentence, Short Songs, Straight A's, etc just come across as a noisy, incoherent mess. I think they are going for "zany" appeal, but without any real substance to back it up. The Prey mixes things up a bit with it's experimental "lounge" style, but again it has no appeal for me.

Pull My Strings shows great potential with a catchy surf-rock riff at the start, but unfortunately soon turns into a dog's breakfast. However, the chorus is quite amusing. Similarly, I Fought The Law might have been an amusing in-joke at the time, but that time has well and truly passed...

Although quite non-sequitur for a lounge band, the immature frat-boy tale of Too Drunk To Fuck is par for the course for a punk-rock band. So while this version has great energy, in the end I much prefer the absurdity of Nouvelle Vague's cover.

To end on a positive note, I really dig the strangeness of California Uber Alles's chorus, and the degenerated prog-rock bridge. It's all very oddball, and I like it.

Favourite songs

Police Truck, California Uber Alles, Holiday In Cambodia

I diggit?

Maybe it's just that a case that 17 songs is too many. I really enjoy three of them, but wading through the other 14 dulls the appeal.

The Offspring- Days Go By

Yet another Offspring album?? Don't worry, this is the last one! The reason for the binge is that I became obsessed with The Offspring after seeing them at Soundwave one year. (The binge also included Splinter, but that one very quickly found its way to the rubbish bin, of course...)

Days Go By is The Offspring's ninth album. It was released in 2012, four years after Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace.

The Future Is Now kicks things off with brilliantly poetic lyrics, and nicely incorporating a bit of emo/goth styling. This means crunchy guitars in verses and soaring chorus; both of which are traditional Offspring qualities, but this new twist on them is a nice new treat. It's more of the same with Secret Show From The Underground, which is totally fine by me!

There's a few grips though, the first of which affects the whole album: recording quality. The bass is boomy and the cymbals are often harsh and messy. Next up, Hurting As One features a vintage Offspring chorus (translation: a brilliant chorus), complete with trademark howls in the background. Unfortunately, the the rest of the song is too disjointed to get absorbed into.

Sorry, but things here are gonna get worse before they get better...

On Days Go By, I can't get past the notion that the main riff is a rip-off of Foo Fighters' Times Like These. Actually, the whole song smells pretty similar. And I Wanna Secret Family constantly reminds me of Bowling For Soup's 1985. Hmmm...

Next in the firing line is Cruising California. What the hell is this rubbish? Katy Perry perhaps?? The Offspring have produced some pretty shameful efforts for pop singles over the years, and this is possibly the worst of them. I actually struggle to believe this is the same band as the rest of the album.

All I Have Left Is You is another superficial pop effort, again at odds with The Offspring's traditions. However, despite my stubborn ideological objections, it's a fairly passable pop-rock-ballad song.

OC Guns also shows worrying signs at the start, that perhaps we are in for another tacky pop effort. But it soon reveals itself to be a rocksteady masterpiece; a fantastic groove overlaid with badass lyrics, giving off vibes of Cherry Poppin' Daddies' Susquehanna album at its best.

For me, The Offspring suddenly made a lot more sense when someone explained that they should be considered similar to a modern-day Ramones. What's my point here? Dirty Magic is a direct reminder of this theory, thanks to a guitar riff that sounds a lot like some later Ramones songs. As for the rest of the song, the lyrics don't have any appeal for me, so unfortunately I can't really get into it.

Skipping over some more fairly lacklustre songs, we arrive at Dividing By Zero and are finally treated to some fast-paced energy, plus a brilliant and bouncy chorus. There's not much to say that hasn't already been said about earlier Offspring songs, but after all these years it still remains a recipe for heaps of fun.

Then Slim Pickens Does The Right Thing And Rides The Bomb To Hell features some fantastically insightful, imagery-laden and slightly obscure lyrics (eg "Dance around the fire that we once believed in"). Which all sits on top of a wonderfully infectious bouncing energy.

Favourite songs

The Future Is Now, Secret Show From The Underground, OC Guns, Dividing By Zero, Slim Pickens Does The Right Thing (and The Offspring write a ridiculously long song title!)

I diggit?

Before the last two songs, I was thinking that the good times were few and far between on this album, but then Dividing By Zero and Slim Pickens appear from nowhere to save the day. In the end, it's a great album.

The Offspring- Ixnay On The Hombre

Ixnay On The Hombre is The Offspring's forth album. It was released in 1997, three years after Smash.

This also means it was released only one year before Americana, which was a surprising discovery to me. Ixnay and Americana are generally considered bookends of old-school and new-age Offspring, and I never realised how short the gap between these eras actually is. 

The Meaning Of Life has plenty of energy and some pop novelties tacked on to grab a bit of attentions. But fundamentally there are no effective hooks in the songwriting, so the song doesn't have an real lasting appeal. The same goes for Mota.

But then I quite like Me & My Old Lady, so my opinion doesn't make any sense! In this case, the cheesy pop-rock is somehow a bit of silly fun.

Things get very serious for Gone Away, and the results are incredible. It has all the power of a stadium-rock anthem, yet also with the humblest of emotions. A highlight for me is the unusual drum pattern, which perhaps distinguishes the song from the millions of other rock ballads out there. And, of course, the soaring singalong chorus, which is an all-time classic.

All I Want is energetic, messy and unrefined. I totally dig it! A particular highlight is the howling chorus. However, I might be biased about this song, because I have fond memories of it from the videogame Crazy Taxi. It's the same happy story for Way Down The Line, which also adds some great pop hooks.

As usual, this Offspring album features a lame attempt at ska. Although the a Buck-O-Nine style used for Don't Pick It Up actually works quite well for a change, shock horror!

Finally, Amazed brings in a bit of grunge influence to inject some variety. I find the verses a bit indistinct, but the chorus holds the song together nicely.

Favourite songs

Gone Away, All I Want, Way Down The Line

I diggit?

It turns out that Ixnay isn't quite the consistent and well-resolved album I thought it was. But a couple of high-energy romps, plus the rock-anthem brilliance of Gone Away, means that I'm glad to own a copy.

The Offspring- Americana

Americana is The Offspring's fifth album, which was hugely successful. It was released in 1998, one year after Ixnay On The Hombre.

Have You Ever is perhaps a signpost that this album is a turning point for The Offspring. The majority of the song is pretty generic early-Offspring. And there's nothing wrong with that! Then the ending gives us a quick sample of the upcoming new-age Offspring sound: catchy Ramones-esque pop-punk. Of which I am also a fan. End Of The Line is a solid execution of this new style.

Unfortunately, Pretty Fly For A White Guy has been played to death. At one stage, it seemed like it was the only song on the radio! I think that once upon a time I enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek pop-punk, but that was lasted for the first few thousand times I heard it...

On the other hand, Why Don't You Get A Job never had any appeal in the first place, and only got more and more annoying with each listen. Walla Walla is another example of shallow, trashy pop-punk.

The Kids Aren't Alright manages the musical miracle of delivering fast-paced energy which is also brimming with powerful emotion. It's bouncing around with shivers running down your spine. Incredible. I guess a lot of it is due to the brilliant narrative and perfectly singalong chorus.

It's a similar situation for Feelings. A slight let-down is the chorus, which - despite being fantastic when played live - somehow doesn't stand up as well to the scrutiny of chin-stroking in a armchair.

The song Americana feels heavily inspired by "Bad Habit" from Smash. Which means it's a great song, of course!

Finally, Pay The Man is quite left field, by bringing in an Arabic influence. The integration with punk-rock is a bit awkward, but it's still an interesting experiment.

Favourite songs

Have You Ever, The Kids Aren't Alright, Americana

I diggit?

As a transitional album for the band's style, I don't think it's their best work. Regardless, there's much enjoyment to be had here (which probably means that I'm a sucker for The Offspring...)

The Clash- Combat Rock

Combat Rock is The Clash's fifth album. It was released in 1982, two years after "Sandinista!".

Know Your Rights is a passable intro. The band's trademark bleak and political vocal style could use better support from the instrumentals, but it still works out ok to establish the mood.

The headline songs of the album- Should I Stay Or Should I Go and Rock The Casbah- have never really appealed to me. The former works well as catchy pop, but doesn't have any lasting appeal. Rock the Casbah has great lyrics, but I'm not a fan of the '80s influence.

Instead, Straight To Hell is the highlight of the album for me. It sets a wonderfully intense yet sparse post-apocolyptic mood, much like The Wanderer by Johnny Cash / U2.

At the other end of the enjoyment spectrum is Overpowered by Funk. Sorry for stubbornly pigeonholing a band... but... a funk song by The Clash? Really?? Even if it were a great song, it's still completely at odds with their image and ideals.

To get to the crux of the matter, the rest of the album is pretty mediocre, and I think the reason is amateur-hour instrumentals. This is because the bleak vocals are a given, and on previous albums I think it's a big part of their style. But they rely on the smooth and wonderfully layered instrumentals to offset the bitterness. And Combat Rock has, despite the varied world-music influences, pretty uninspiring backing instrumentals.

Inoculated City even takes a lot of cues from Lost In The Supermarket (off London Calling), but unfortunately with very little of its songwriting brilliance.

Favourite songs

Straight to Hell

I diggit?

Well I can't help wondering if this really is the same band that gave us the London Calling album?? So, despite being a huge fan of The Clash, this one is going straight into the bin.