Frozenorth Records What Would Mummy Say?, Various Artists
Call me ignorant, but to me Staines is only famous for a certain comedic character called Ali G. But it appears that there is a new face in town, that of Frozenorth Records. And they have released their new sampler 'What Would Mummy Say?' to let us punk rock folk have a listen as to what they are all about. And, as I've written so many times before with compilation reviews, it's ok. But what I will say, is that this sampler is a little on the strange side...
Kicking off with one of the more well-known bands, Annalise, the cd gets a rocking introduction. 'Next Stop Nowhere' sounds like a nu-skool pop punk band playing with an old-skool singer. It's slightly confusing, coming over all Clash-like, but it's a decent start nonetheless. Stimilion bring us 'When I'm Gone' another impressive little ditty. Fast and melodic, with some fine harmonies, this points to a band with plenty of promise. Scientific Simpleton are a lot slower and more US sounding, and although 'The Obvious One' isn't that bad, it's decidedly average.
I always thought Vanilla Pod were more Less Than Jake than New Found Glory, but it appears I thought wrong. And 'Movie For Life' is an impressive slice of perkiness that really stands out on this cd. Whether they have the goods to go far is still open to question though. Melted Cat have a strange name and a strange sound. The quality isn't that good, and 'Why Can't You Be More Like Me?' is an attempt at being emo/punk, without being particularly good at either.
Slap Madcap punk things up with the spritely 'Out Of This Misery', but Laminator give us the absolutely awful 'Strictly Beaver', quite possibly the worst song I have ever, ever had the misfortune to hear. And Mummy Says I'm Special aren't much better. Infact, they aren't better in any way shape or form. Please boys, don't give up the day jobs...
'I Hate You' by Gecko is welcome relief, a punk rock song. And it's not half bad either. Ditto No Reason Why who focus more on the music than the speed. Vidar bring their version of ska to the fore, but it's not my cup of tea. And The Greenland Whalefishers (where do they get these names from?) sound so much like The Pogues it's disgraceful. Infact, that is Shane McGowan, right? Right???
Eastfield give us 'Black Hole', a straight up punk song that sounds like something straight outta the 70's and Chester follow up with a song which is ok, just I don't really care for the vocals. When things probably couldn't get much lower, there is the relief of the John Does and the fantastically fast 'My Girlfriend Is An Alien'. Heavily borrowing from early Blink 182 and the likes of Strung Out, this could be the best song on the entire sampler. The Rejects certainly aren't the best band on the sampler, although they might be the fastest band, coming all over like the bastard sons of the Misfits and Madness.
The Final Hour are average too, so thank goodness for The Antisocialworkers, who bring a welcome spark of brilliance to proceedings. Certainly a band to keep an eye on. The Mispelt don't have that much going for them, and I suspect they will still be doing the pub circuit in ten years time.
So, as we go into the final straight, we hit Dogshit Sandwich and their Oi style of punk rock. It's ok, 'Punk Shit' does sound a hell of a lot like Rancid, but it doesn't quite reach the standards of Tim, Lars and the boys. Stimilion provide us with another song, this time 'Sorry, I Sold Out' which is better than their first track, showing that they are not a one trick pony. And finishing as we began, Annalise end with 'Forget The Girl' which is also better than their first track. All in all, a good ending.
'What Would Mummy Say?' has its moments, reaching both greatness and sheer, godawful tragedies on the same record. Still, at a fiver you could do worse than hear some fine up and coming young UK talent. Just make sure the trusty skipfinger [tm] isn't too far away.
Paul
