Ixnay on the Hombre,
The OffspringWhen this album was released, it kind of passed everyone by, which is odd, because for all intents and purposes it has some of the Offspring's best work on it. Possibly because half the world had bought 'Smash' and thought this wasn't going to live up to it. Well they were (partly) right, it isn't Smash but it does have a lot of originality, and a variety of different styles witihin the songs - which is always a good sign.
Unlike 'Conspiracy of one', nothing on 'Ixnay on the Hombre' seems contrived, or produced for the kids. It sounds as though it should, that the band knew what they felt and got straight to it in a recording studio; and what came out the other end was a listenable album, not brilliant.
You know after the intro on Smash, there was no way they could begin their next CD without some little comedy filler, and as sure as teletubbies is on acid, we have what I imagine to be some big clown giving us a disclaimer. He is probably riding a unicycle. After the scariness finishes, 'The meaning of life' smashes in as though the Offspring have had pent up aggression since smash bursting to get out, and get it all out of their collective systems in just under 3 minutes. Once you've got over the almost inconceivable fact that tracks 2 and 3 run for exactly the same amount of time, you'll realise that 'Mota' is far like the offspring of old, with a classic style chorus 'losing out might take you all night..... MOTA' - a sing-a-long if ever there was one.
Which brings us to the first disappointment in my opinion - you see, a lot of people seem to like this song, but I really cannot stand it 'My old lady'; it may grow on you after a while, but I've given it ample time, and now it just pisses me off. (shudder). 'Cool to hate' echoes the feelings of oh so many twats in high schools across both England and America - 'being positive's so uncool..' maybe it'll wake a few people up, but I doubt it.
'Leave it behind' is pure Offspring, great lyrics and melody 'I don't know if I can forgive, the day is long, but you were so dead wrong' - I use to think this track was a filler, but I was wrong, it is one of the best album without any doubt. Track 7, 'Gone Away' is pure genius. Taking on a moderate pace, it contains The Offspring's most emotional lyrics to date, encapsulating how you feel when someone close to you passes away. It is impressive to say the least, and the emotion can be heard in Dexter's voice - 'yea it stings, yeah it stings now, the world is so cold, now that you've gone away' - a chorus that will probably have you singing along (those of you that are too punk need not apply.)
Just when things were going oh so well 'I choose' gatecrashes and ruins the party. It tries to spike the punch but just ends up with it's trousers down. Oh well. Thank fuck for 'Intermission', which is guaranteed* to make you smile, or else yes there is something wrong with you. This precedes the seminal 'All I want', which is pure energy encased in 1 minute 54 seconds, with some mighty angry screaming all the way to the finish line. The rest of the CD is not particularly astounding, save for 'change the world' (which will have Offspring fans experiencing a degree of deja vu) - the tracks in between bring it down oh so much. Which brings us to the conclusion.. well, it has some amazing songs, and some I wouldn't ever want to listen to more than a few times. I wouldn't consider this to be an all round 'good' album so to speak. As such it misses out on 4 stars in that respect. It just has scatters of brilliance every now and again - as such i'd give it a 3.5 stars, but it's getting rounded down i'm afraid. Listen to someone else's copy before buying your own.
nick
*Not guaranteed
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