New material from these aging upstarts, and pretty decent stuff at that. As with most of their previous material, the tunes are slow-to-mid-tempo with the accent on lyrics and understated Oi-type songs. The interesting tune here is “I Don’t Wanna Fight the Soviet,” showing quite a bit of insight from a so-called “working class” outfit.
It’s touching to see old bands hang in there, although I’m not too ecstatic about this case. Maybe I’d like a slightly less-produced version of some of the songs (way too clean and sparse for such slow-tempo stuff), but some of the songs are just plain lame. Splodge does a good job on the vocals though.
The ANGELIC UPSTARTS are one of those bands that write about one great song per thirty throwaways. Amazingly, both of these cuts are great punky pop jams with real catchy hooks, fine guitar leads, and fairly thoughtful lyrics. Does this mean we’ll have to put up with sixty mediocrities before the next winner?
