SpenniesDescendents - All
June 21st 2006 06:34
DESCENDENTS
All (1987)
SST Records
Produced by Bill Stevenson
I'll put it simply. This album rules. Everybody who likes this band has a favourite record from sometime during their long career (pushing nearly 30 years now!), and I would say ALL is definitely the most experimental. Recorded back in 1987, it really pushed the boundaries of the pop-punk genre before it even became commonplace in the 90's. Even today it sounds fresh, edgy and really quite unique.
The musicianship here is astounding. Each track is littered with strange yet coherent guitar and bass playing - Karl Alvarez and Steven Egerton have probably some of the best chemistry I've heard from a punk band. The riffs go all over the place - "Van" is probably the best example of this. A frantic, somewhat odd riff-driven tune about living out of your tour van. Another standout is the drumming. Bill Stevenson is like a punk rock virtuoso, with fills all over the place and technical syncopation that give the rhythm a feeling of chaos but again, it all works and is still easy to listen to. I would describe the musicianship as perhaps what happens when you get a bunch of "avant-guard" guys to make a pop-punk record. Although that sounds wanky, I'm having a hard time trying to pinpoint it...
Despite what I am saying however, the whole album is not left of centre weirdness. Songs like "Coolidge" (one of the greatest pop-punk songs ever) and "Clean Sheets" are pretty straight-forward power chord tunes, catchy as hell and more akin to other Descendents albums.
It's really hard to pick favourites amongst the 13 songs on offer here, as I feel like listening to different ones depending on what mood I'm in. I guess "Cameage" "Jealous of the World" and possibly "Iceman" are big standouts, but I really don't dislike anything. The disc also contains the mighty Descendents "All-O-Gistics" which is a parody of the 10 commandments featuring classic lines such as "Thou shalt not commit adulthood" - a staple of their rare live shows.
All in all (haha!), this is a very diverse record that has some immensely catchy tunes, and some which will creep up on you later. I think it's a very underrated part of the bands catalogue, as people usually talk about "Milo Goes to College" or "Everything Sucks" more. Put bluntly, if you don't own it, GO OUT AND BUY IT!
All (1987)
SST Records
Produced by Bill Stevenson
The musicianship here is astounding. Each track is littered with strange yet coherent guitar and bass playing - Karl Alvarez and Steven Egerton have probably some of the best chemistry I've heard from a punk band. The riffs go all over the place - "Van" is probably the best example of this. A frantic, somewhat odd riff-driven tune about living out of your tour van. Another standout is the drumming. Bill Stevenson is like a punk rock virtuoso, with fills all over the place and technical syncopation that give the rhythm a feeling of chaos but again, it all works and is still easy to listen to. I would describe the musicianship as perhaps what happens when you get a bunch of "avant-guard" guys to make a pop-punk record. Although that sounds wanky, I'm having a hard time trying to pinpoint it...
A garbled photo of the Descendents live
It's really hard to pick favourites amongst the 13 songs on offer here, as I feel like listening to different ones depending on what mood I'm in. I guess "Cameage" "Jealous of the World" and possibly "Iceman" are big standouts, but I really don't dislike anything. The disc also contains the mighty Descendents "All-O-Gistics" which is a parody of the 10 commandments featuring classic lines such as "Thou shalt not commit adulthood" - a staple of their rare live shows.
All in all (haha!), this is a very diverse record that has some immensely catchy tunes, and some which will creep up on you later. I think it's a very underrated part of the bands catalogue, as people usually talk about "Milo Goes to College" or "Everything Sucks" more. Put bluntly, if you don't own it, GO OUT AND BUY IT!
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