Hello Rockview - Less Than Jake

...your Mum would hate. Hello Rockview is one of their most easily findable albums – according to their official website (www.lessthanjake.com) they have 76 releases not including compilations – and was originally released on Capitol records. The version I have is actually a double CD which includes Losing Streak, an earlier release. I’m only going to review Hello Rockview here, because there’s a separate category on Ciao for ...
...– value for money. Hello Rockview has 14 tracks and the double CD version also has the video for “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads”. So what are the tracks like?!

Last One Out Of Liberty City (2.03)

Very punk. Very quick pace and pretty uninspiring to begin with, but with a change of pace the ska shines through for a second giving you a glimpse of some of the treats ahead. Brass section is good but ... more

Less Than Jake are another one of those punk rock bands that your Mum would hate. Hello Rockview is one of their most easily findable albums – according to their official website (www.lessthanjake.com) they have 76 releases not including compilations – and was originally released on Capitol records. The version I have is actually a double CD which includes Losing Streak, an earlier release. I’m only going to review Hello Rockview here, because there’s a separate category on Ciao for the other album…

The first thing to note is the great liner notes - the lyrics are laid out in the style of a comic strip and it's one of the most well thought out booklets I've ever seen. The cover shows a guy diving into a swimming pool in a suit!

There’s one thing that you really can’t fault most punk and ska band’s for – value for money. Hello Rockview has 14 tracks and the double CD version also has the video for “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads”. So what are the tracks like?!

Last One Out Of Liberty City (2.03)

Very punk. Very quick pace and pretty uninspiring to begin with, but with a change of pace the ska shines through for a second giving you a glimpse of some of the treats ahead. Brass section is good but criminally resigned to the background. A good start but it gets better….

Help Save The Youth Of America From Exploding (2.56)

Great title - starts off like a demo track (poor recording!) before bursting into life. A sing-along-able chorus but definitely punk not pop-punk. “Remind me how this is the same old story of growing up and getting lost”…. Again another change of pace gives a different feel to the song.

All My Best Friends Are Metalheads (3.33)

“This is a fair request and I promise I will not judge any person only as a teenager.” So starts by far the best track on the album. This was also the most publicised as it was released as a single. Chris Moyles even played it on Radio 1! Ska inspired and slower than the previous tracks, this will get you singing along and bouncing around your bedroom. The lyrics are about not really knowing anything about other people around you.

Five State Drive (2.51)

Great bass line to start another quick paced song with another sing-along-able section – “By now I think I’ve found, things changed just don’t look that way to me”. A good track.

Nervous In The Alley (2.55)

I really like this one. It’s another more ska inspired track. The lyrics seem to be about whether you’d “raise a fist” if you had to or whether you’d stand there feeling hopeless – it’s basically about standing up for yourself

Motto (3.16)

Very quick bassline but not my favourite from the album. The lyrics are shouted rather than sung (something that may well appeal to a lot of punk fans, but not me). The chorus section is less shouty and more tuneful, but they seem to let speed get in the way of the melody a lot of the time. When they slow down, the song works better.

History Of A Boring Town (3.24)

Another one I like. It’s about growing up but not moving on – getting stuck in the same boring life in the same boring town. Again this is slower and works better than some of the faster tracks on the album. The brass section is more obvious on this track.

Great American Sharpshooter (1.30)

Another pretty quick track but it does have fantastic Ramones inspired “woh, oh, oh, oh, ooooo-o—ooh” backing vocals which a very entertaining!

Danny Says (2.56)

Quick one again but great brass stuff, this is about getting ‘burnt-out’. This features a few changes of pace and is pretty catchy with more “ooo-ooo-ooo-oh” on it!

Big Crash (2.45)

One of my favourites. This has a very catchy chorus and is a slower track. “Big plans, big crash, why be different when you can’t by yourself”

Theme Song For H Street (2.46)

This one feels like a filler and doesn’t really have anything to recommend it apart from the total change of pace half way through the track which is far superior to the rest of the song!

Richard Allen George… No, It’s Just Cheez (1.47)

This song gets top marks in my book basically because it contains the line “Chesterfield, where the keg’s never dry, it’s always filled” – I live in Chesterfield! For the none locals (!), this is a really short track with viciously quick choruses and slower ska verses. The track finishes and an extra track is tagged on the end featuring the obviously drunk band singing “ The kids that are hip, they grow hair on their lip, they throw down their razor they don’t give a s**t” – weird!

Scott Faracs Takes It On The Chin (2.36)

I LOVE SKA! Admittedly this isn’t your normal ska track as it’s played at a frantic pace for the most part, but it is obviously ska. This is another track about getting stuck in the town you grow up in and trying to get out. I like this one a lot – ska, loads of pace changes and good lyrics.

Al’s War (3.04)

Pretty quick again, non-memorable verses, catchy choruses, strange pace change near the end. Not the best track to end the album with, but ok.

VIDEO – All My Best Friends Are Metalheads

If you’ve got auto play enabled, a yellow menu should appear when you put the CD in the CDROM drive (if not you’ll have to click on the drive to run the video). This is a pretty basic bit of multimedia which allows you to play the movie, install media player (which you need to play the video!) or, and I quote, “Browse More Cool CD’s Online”. The video itself is a pretty low budget affair, but it seems to capture the mayhem of Less Than Jake’s live performances.

Is it worth my money?

Well, yes and no. No self respecting punk/ska fan should not own “All My Bestfriends..” because it’s such a great song, but for me the album is just to ‘samey’ for want of a better word. The pace doesn’t seem to change too much on the album as a whole (although within each song the speed can change dramatically!), which is a shame because I think the slower songs are often better. They can be wonderfully catchy, but at the same time by very forgettable – a mixed bag!

CDHOLE025
GOLF records (Originally released on Capitol Records)

All of Less Than Jakes albums can be purchased from www.plastichead.com, who are currently doing a good deal – buy any LTJ album and get the single for “All My Bestfriends…” free!
 

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