The Bouncing Souls are best known for their uplifting feelgood anthems. How I Spent My Summer Vacation saw these coming thick and fast in 2001. "True Believers" was among these and is probably their best known song. Anchors Aweigh doesn't exactly leave the Oi! tinged goodness in its wake, but certainly brings in a more bittersweet nature that the songs have often had since, right up to Ghosts On The Boardwalk and likely beyond. You wouldn't think so at first listen though. Bryan Kienlen's bass kicks "Apartment 5F" into a very upbeat and promising life, Greg Attonito's voice soars as high as ever, and it seems like the Souls have picked up where they left off on ...Summer Vacation. There are some differences, though. Michael McDermott's manic drums crash into the mix with a little more malice than before, and the lyrics have a hint of desperation that wasn't seen on the charming, happy-go-lucky predecessor. "Kids And Heroes" brings in the newer sound more acutely. The lyrics carry an accusatory disappointment, and the mellow intro makes you think you're in for a real downer. The music may not be quite as bright as before, but it pounds away fairly dependably once it gets going, and Attonito returns to his motifs of belief (not necessarily the religious way) for a more cheery middle of the song. A nice guitar solo fits well with the song, a few notches down from happy but still hopeful. The solo Pete Steinkopf recorded on Hot Water Music's "Giver" from 2004's otherwise disappointing The New What Next sounds almost like a truncated version of this. "Kids And Heroes" winds down in an acoustic and reflective manner, one of several nuances that make Anchors Aweigh a more dynamic record than its simpler, more consistent elders.
"New Day" is perhaps less intricate than the previous tracks, despite being one of the longest cuts on the album. The verses muse fairly negatively, the chorus tries to bring a fairly slow wave of hope but only half manages it. Some space for the bass prevents the song from going completely stale. "Sing Along Forever" sounds like it's trying to be on the last album, but despite being one of those archetypical little anthems shy of two minutes that crams typical Souls rhetoric with upbeat music, it falls a little flat compared to songs like "Better Life" and "No Comply". Perhaps this is due to the overall sound of Anchors Aweigh, but it doesn't sound like quite enough of an adequate wakeup call. Luckily, we get that with the rolling drums of the speedy "Born Free". About as close to being political as the band had been (a live version was given to the second Rock Against Bush compilation), Attonito points the finger at various powers that be for fifty seconds, then the song briefly slows down and speeds up again on a defiant note, ending as soon as it began at just eighty three seconds long.
The music gets a little serious on “Inside Out”, the mood recalling an anger not seen since the eponymous third album from 1997, but with more restraint. Even Attonito's buoyant vocals sound a bit angry. The backing vocals during the chorus are morose, and the guitars are sullen. A slightly more upbeat ending seems a little bit out of joint. "Simple Man" is one of the better definitions of the bittersweet goodness that was yet to come. A wary outlook on life with a desire to escape to simplicity. The soundtrack doesn't do much special other than nearly stop a couple of times, but is solid and makes for a good overall song that's quite catchy. "Better Days" comes across as trying to be like a faster love-song "Inside Out", and doesn't fare as well, though the first half does serve well to keep a briskness to a part of the album which is relatively slow, which "Night Train" is no exception to. Attonito's vocals are shoved to the back as Kienlen steps up. The music chugs along in between the vocal spurts, which tell of a need to regretfully cut loose and branch out. It's a good track to drive to. "Todd's Song" is also slow, sung mostly by Kienlen, and a bit of a downer lyrically, although the guitar picking is a bit more tuneful and some strings are added into the mix. It doesn't have quite the energy of the previous track, unfortunately. "Blind Date" sounds like it was put afterwards out of a necessity rather than because it was a good song. With seventeen tracks, Anchors Aweigh certainly wasn't in need of padding out. Played at a blistering pace, it's like a blander, faster "Better Days". Having established that that track was itself a lesser song comparable to another, we're left with a pretty weak song.
"Highway Kings" drives right in with a boldness that stands up far better. Upbeat lyrics are back in business, and the music has more attitude than usual. About a minute in the whole song becomes more positive, and the band finally again achieve a moment that rivals that of the last record, without pandering to that formula. "Anchors Aweigh" is a short ballad, like a slightly more relaxed "Inside Out". Despite the moody nature of the music at times, the song benefits from a simple but memorable refrain, and the relenting for a short period of the tireless McDermott's traps. "I Get Lost" sounds like it could have actually fit on How I Spent My Summer Vacation until the distinctively Anchors Aweigh chorus kicks in, but unlike other similar occasions in the album, this song holds its own and doesn't sound like a cheap knockoff, and has a hell of a catchy chorus.
Some nasty feedback gives way to Kienlen's country-flavoured rocker "The Day I Turned My Back On You". The drums are typical, but the vocal delivery and the guitar solos are just a little bit yee-haw. It's not an album highlight, but it's energetic and intriguing without deviating too heavily from the album's sound. "I'm From There" is the last listed track. A long way of saying goodbye, "I'm From There" is a nice if unspectacular track that rounds off a string off strong tracks that end the album before fading out. Oh great, more of that annoying crackling found on 1999's Hopeless Romantic. The last song on that album had a whole minute of it for some reason at the end, and we're in for more here. Whoopee. However, if you hang on for a minute and a half, this time you actually get a nice bonus track. The half-acoustic percussion-free "The Fall Song" is a sweet little bonus number that makes the wait worthwhile. I daren't guess the number of bands that try something like it, though this one could be the more buoyant sibling to the version of "Meaning" found on China Drum's Goosefair album. I just wish it had its own track, I hate all the silence and near-silence you get with some of these bonus track things. Waste of time, and a waste of hard disk space once it's ripped, too.
Anchors Aweigh is a good album, though not a great one, as are many records that demonstrate a band in transition between sounds. I'd recommend How I Spent My Summer Vacation as the record to try out, or Ghosts On The Boardwalk if you think that you'd prefer better examples of the direction that Anchors Aweigh started the journey to.
Personal picks: Highway Kings, Kids And Heroes, Inside Out, Apartment 5F
Picks for others: Kids And Heroes, Simple Man, Anchors Aweigh, Night Train
Relative weaknesses: Sing Along Forever, Blind Date
Tracklist
01 – Apartment 5F
02 – Kids And Heroes
02 – Kids And Heroes
03 – New Day
04 – Sing Along Forever
05 – Born Free
06 – Inside Out
07 – Simple Man
08 – Better Days
09 – Night Train
10 – Todd’s Song
11 – Blind Date
12 – Highway Kings
13 – Anchors Aweigh
14 – I Get Lost
15 – The Day I Turned My Back On You
16 – I’m From There…The Fall Song
No comments:
Post a Comment