Honest Don's Dirty Dishes, Various Artists
To be honest I was expecting a far wackier title (read: crude) to good ol' Don's latest sampler, after his last compilation. But anyway, here it is, Don's latest tunes offered on a plate (ho ho); but is it good enough to eat off? (wipes tear from eye). Anyway, enough of the lame puns and onto the musak, of which there is a relatively average amount (45 minutes) and features most of the Don's roster of bands.
I have a personal dislike for Nerf Herder, and most of 'Vivian' only managed to concrete this viewpoint; it is a depressingly annoying song which is nearly saved by a singable chorus; but why the hell do the vocals take such an unsatisfactory turn around 2 minutes in? Repetition seems to be Nerf Herder's trick of the trade, and if listening to "Put em on, Put em on, Put em on" many times is what you appreciate in music, then you're a very different person from me. Fortunately, Inspection 12's track, 'Secret identity' go about the pop punk song with greater talent, from the bongo-tastic action within the first 10 seconds covered by a confident voice, to a stop-everything break before a refreshing solo; following on to some dual singing which nicely carries the song to a conclusion.
Dogpiss obviously need to lay off the white sticks of death (tm) in 'The Smoking Song'; the song itself is reasonable enough, and is over relatively quickly, yet unfortunately the vocals seems eclipsed by the guitars, something which better production would have sorted out. Fabulous Disaster's 'Gia' endears itself to the audience after a few listens, followed on by a foreboding 'Oh no' from the Limp camp; a song which could perfectly accompany scenes of disaster, mayhem and murder (hope this doesn't scar you whilst listening to it) - it does however stand out considerably from the rest, simply because it takes on a darker tone.
The emergence of female bands/vocals is given a push by The Flipsides with 'The Best of Times', with the female vocals for once helping rather than hindering the style of the song - an all round enjoyable song, with a contemplative single guitar interlude before it kicks back into the very listenable chorus - i'll definitely be checking out some more stuff by these people. Citizen Fish's more traditional style punk sound is refreshing; personally I don't enjoy the sound, but there's no doubt it adds a bit of spice to the mix. No Ohio's 'Squirtgun' is disappointing, unfortunately becoming for me nothing but filler; simply because there is nothing within the song which grabbed my attention - it just seemed to float on by.
For those of you who haven't heard Bad Astronaut, 'Grey Suits' will convince you that they are something rather special - probably unlike anything else you've heard; the highlight being the keyboard backed solo about 1 minute 20 seconds in, pushed off stage by a twin "you bought it" and "it's never enough for you" spiralling into each other. You either love the Dance Hall Crashers, or you hate them, or er, you're undecided. I'm still sitting on the fence, but this song hasn't convinced me to jump off yet; it's alright, sure, but like No Ohio seems to pass by unnoticed. Diesel Boy's contribution, 'She's my Queen' was similarly unimpressive and feels like it has just been thrown on, when there are far better songs by the artist out there...
If the idea of punks in kilts and scot drum beats sounds appealing, you'll warm to the Real McKenzies, who seem rightly proud of their heritage; but J-Church's 'Rich and Young and Dumb' is completely uninspiring, probably due to the monotone nature of the singer's voice; with what seems like a teenager whining that he's the odd one out, I just didn't have time for it.
Evaluation: Half good, half bad. Take the good ones off and stick 'em on a tape with some of your other stuff, and you'll be happy. After all, it's only £5. Be prepared to get skip-finger (tm) though...
nick
