Plague Vendor - Free to Eat

Completing this entry a few days after starting the entry during my listen of Plague Vendor's - Free to Eat.

Been working some insane hours the past couple of days...  I could have selected one of 20 albums I listened to in its entirety today.  I got out of the office at some point Saturday morning 2ish AM after punching through a full day at the office.

I'm officially 14 days (as of June 1st) away from launching our ERP conversion.  The entries from this point forth are going to be very scattered.  I just noticed that my entry for May 28th didn't post from my work computer....   

Strange.

Anyhoo..  I've been listening to this album for nearly a month now.  I haven't been able to arrive at a conclusion just yet on wether I like it or not.  By that I mean, should I add it to my collection of albums...

The album is good.  I would actually go out of my way to recommend it a number of my friends who especially listen to West Coast (California) Punk.   There's something however that I can't put my finger on...  something that is keeping me from wanting to plunk down my hard earned money on it and I can't seem to figure out what it is.

Standout Tracks:

• Plague Vendor – Black Sap Scriptures
• Plague Vendor – Breakdance on Broken Glass

The Offspring - SMASH

So I'm listening to what I hope is the last album released in 1994 for a while...   the album is "SMASH" from the Offspring.  A band that nicely fit somewhere between Green Day and Rancid for me.   

I learned about the band on an episode of Headbangers Ball.  I think Gene Simmons was being interviewed by Riki Rachtman before KISS kicked off a tour in Lubbock, Texas.  Gene looked into the camera and gave a rave review for the band... he informed me that if I didn't know where they were, I should get my shit together and pick up their album.

The video for Self-Esteam was aired and found it to be pretty catchy.   When I picked up the album I remember really gravitating to three songs.  

Stand out tracks:

Bad Habit - A song about murderous road rage.  

Come Out and Play - I'm in the tank for just about anything that makes a reference to the Warriors.  The track also featured a cholo who would occasionally chime in with a "you gotta keep'm separated"

Self - Esteem - I really wish I could listen to this song and enjoy it the way I did before I listened to the song and really let the lyrics sync in.  I have countless fucking albums that deal with the subject of investing love in shitty people, but for some reason this song has always cut me to the core.  I've never been in a relationship with someone who I knowingly knew that slept with all my friends...  but there's a lyric at the end of the song about how this girl would come around knocking late at night drunk and you make the mistake of letting her in.

This...  I'm guilty of.

• The Offspring – What Happened to You?  - added this at the last minute.  It makes me smile... 

Artists: The Offspring
Album: SMASH
Producer: Thom Wilson
Label: Epitaph  (random fact: this is the highest selling indie album of all time)
Recorded: Track Record

The Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site

My love affair with the Weakerthans is a very public one...  I discovered them thru an article I read on Punk Planet.  I listened to their first two albums Fallow and Left and Leaving one winter and rarely put anything else on by them.

When the album Reconstruction Site came out... I didn't quite understand the release.  Their sound had matured and I hadn't quite caught up to what the band was doing.  I actually recall listening to it a few times when I first got the album and remembered thinking that it was spuriously un-punky despite being released on Epitaph Records.

As the years passed... my affection for this album has grown leaps and bounds.  It's hands down my favorite Weakerthans album in my collection.   When workdays get rough, it's the first album I reach for to chase away the "blues".

Lyrically, speaking... John K. Samson is easily in my top 5.  I'm at a complete loss at how he can craft emotion, thought and dialogue in the confines of a 3 minute songs.   If I ever had an opportunity to meet him, I'd be curious to hear what his thoughts are on the sound of the record.  It has a number of songs on it that sorta border on alt-country...  

Standout tracks

• The Weakerthans – The Reasons
• The Weakerthans – Reconstruction Site
• The Weakerthans – Plea From A Cat Named Virtute
• The Weakerthans – Our Retired Explorer
• The Weakerthans – Time's Arrow
• The Weakerthans – A New Name For Everything - I LOVE this song.
• The Weakerthans – Benediction

Artists: The Weakerthans
Album: Reconstruction Site
Producer: Ian Blurton
Label: Epitaph
Recorded: Chemical Sound

The Lawrence Arms - Metropole

Took almost an entire month, but it finally happened!   Tonight is the first time I post a tipsy An Album A Day review in 2014...

The work day was unusually hellish, so I made it a point to enjoy several pints of Colorado's micro-brews at dinner time.

Want to quickly thank/dedicate this drunken entry to Jackie - who tipped me off the the Lawrence Arms about a week or so ago.  When she told me that a band from Chicago was putting out their first album in 8 years, I assumed it would be one I knew.

Turns out I didn't and I've been totally sleeping on this band.  I would describe the sound on this album as a very well produced Jawbreaker album...  

I just listened to "Seventeener (17th and 37th)" and all I can think of was Blake Schwarzenbach...  that and there's a lot to relate to as I'm dangerously closer to 37 - every second that slips by.

I can't get over how much I love the sleeve work on this album...  the sound is also pretty rewarding.  In addition to it reminding me of Jawbreaker, it kinda also reminds me of Street Light Manifesto - but without the horns.

I'm only half way through the record, so maybe a bull fight breaks out and I get to hear some horns.

Ever listen to a record and kinda hope that it has a "Bleed American" ending to it?  By that I mean, you hear about a band who puts everything into an album and it turns out to be a monster release.   I'm kinda hoping the guys on this record get to have said ending with the release of this record.

Stand out tracks:

• The Lawrence Arms – You Are Here
• The Lawrence Arms – Seventeener (17th and 37th)
• The Lawrence Arms – Drunk Tweets
• The Lawrence Arms – The YMCA Down The Street From The Clinic
• The Lawrence Arms – Paradise Shitty
• The Lawrence Arms – October Blood
• The Lawrence Arms – These Pigs Seem To Be Getting The Best Of Me

Artist: The Lawrence Arms
Album: Metropole
Producer: Matt Allison, The Lawrence Arms
Label: Epitaph Records
Recorded: ?