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Broadway Calls
Broadway Calls
Reviewed by: John-Michael Bond [Wed, September 26, 2007 @ 2:16:12 PM]
My apologies to Broadway Calls for putting off this review for so long. You see reviewing something requires me to take said album out of my car stereo long enough to put down some words about it. With Broadway Calls this has proven difficult, because this record is pop punk perfection and removing it from the stereo requires me to replace it with something else. Something like HIM or worse. You can see my problem.
However in my selfishness I’ve deprived you, the loyal reader, of hearing about what is currently very close to the top of my list of records of the year. Somehow Broadway Calls have taken a genre that’s been done to death and breathed new life into by glancing into the past. I for one love that the band’s influences aren’t just whoever Fueled by Ramen signed last year but genre forefathers like Descendents or Elvis Costello and the early work of latter-day luminaries the Get Up Kids. Sure short, fast and loud rules, but when it’s served up with a helping of hooks and smart lyrics? Oh man does it rule even more.
For example while most of Robert Baird’s guitar lines have the basic three chord structure they also contain the guitar fills and mini-solos that made Karl Alverez’s work with Descendents some of the best pop punk ever. These guys might not be to that level yet, but the guitar work on this record brings make memories of when a solo wasn’t just playing the melody of the song during the bridge, but a part of the song itself. Vocalist Ty Vaughn sounds like Elvis Costello after years of whiskey and unfiltered cigarettes with his gruff and snotty melodic croon. Oh, and the rhythm section? Fuck. These guys know their job while still leaving their mark. Like the guitar, the bass on this record will impress you more and more with each listen when you start to notice the little flourishes of bass player Matt Koenig. And Robert Baird is a strong drummer who holds it all together so the melodic elements of the band have a consistent backbone to lean against.
Pin pointing standout tracks is a problem for me as every single song on this record will have you singing along by the second listen. Hell some of you will have the pleasure the first time around once you hear the group’s cover of “A Rush, a Push and the Land is Ours” originally by the Smiths. By adding a dub groove over the song’s already dance ready rhythm they’ve really made the track their own. Even though I’m not a fan of the Smiths this cover made me dig up some of their old records for comparison, and I can promise that fans of those depressed Brits won’t be disappointed. On the originals front “Bad Intentions” is made for mix tapes and makes me wish I had a girl I was pursuing, “So Long My Friends” sounds like a b-side from Green Day’s Warning horns and all and “Life is in the Air”’s ballad false start will catch you off guard before breaking into a blisteringly melodic shout of “We Just never said we’ve had it up to our necks, this is too much!”
But those are only a few examples of the times you’ll find yourself freaking out and singing along. (And in my case often making a fool of yourself in traffic.) What this album lacks in broken ground it more than makes up for in songwriting and killer hooks. That being said I’ve yet to hear a better 90’s pop punk record this year and I doubt you will either.
9 out of 10
RIYL: Green Day – Warning, Get Up Kids – Something to Write Home About, Descendents – Everything Sucks
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