Bonus Fat - Descendents

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Poor

Advantages:	Early Material .  Some Good Songs Here
Disadvantages:	Way Too Short !

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

The Descendents. One of America's finest punk bands. They've inspired many bands to this day and from almost all their material, it's obvious to see why: catchy melodies, short, fast songs and some well written lyrics.

This E.P contains their early work which was before their classic album 'Milo Goes To College'. What is to be expected? Short, snappy pop-punk/punk rock tunes.

1) My Dad Sucks: 35 second opener, 'My Dad Sucks' just blasts it's way through the speakers. There is no care by the band as they thrash through this ditty. Quite strong to say it's not even a minute long.

2) Mr. Bass: This is a personal favourite. Mid-paced punk with a sluggish sound. Lyrically, this is quite daft and shows their comical side to lyric writing. Still used in their set lists today (when they do tour that is, it's quite a rare sight now).

3) I Like Food: Clocking in at under 20 seconds, this is clearly just a mess around. The lyrics are basically about what seems to be their favourite thing: food! "I like food, food tastes good" is the main part of the song. Follows a consistent riff throughout it's 20 seconds. A favourite to Descendents fans.

4) Hey Hey: Melodic, upbeat, bouncy sing-a-long. A song with a lyric that sounds to me as if it's about war (it says 'war' in the song and has references to being killed...I'm so clever!). Possibly my favourite track on the E.P.

5) Weinershnitzel: Another song about food...if you call it a song. Around 11 seconds long, this is basically a little chunk of comedy which is quite funny. This is also used live.

6) Global Probing: I enjoy this song quite a lot. The pounding drum at the beginning, the tune and the tempo changes all make this a standout, even in it's minute length.

7) Ride The Wild: One of their first songs, this is more bland and drifts past quite easily to me. Die-hard fans of the band might find more interest in this song than me, or completists. It's nice to hear how their sound progressed from this though.

8) It's A Hectic World: The same with this song, recorded with Ride The Wild, this isn't the Descendents of today. Interesting stuff but i don't enjoy this as much as the stuff on Milo Goes To College.

Overall, the E.P has some fairly good stuff by them. It has some powerful songs by them which among them, are some of the bands best work (thats my opinion anyway). But as you probably guessed, this isn't very long (about 12 minutes) and isn't worth the asking price which i've seen at around £10.

The material on here is good but is pointless in buying as you can also get this and Milo Goes To College on the same cd called 'Two Things At Once'.

This is for completists and die-hard fans only...