|
Purveyors of some of the finest radio-ready
Pop/Punk to come out of the nineties are back with their newest,
“Americana”. Despite some of the backlash against the
new school punk, "Offspring" are staying true to form
and doing what they do best, namely manic paced, sing-a-long,
riff-ready power pop nuggets of enthusiasm. Much like past efforts,
most all the songs have the same approach. Big, fast, downpicky
guitars, skipping drum/snare punk breaks, and verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/out
structures. Even in it’s sameness, it’s done well (it’s
also been done before, but you really can’t hold that charge
against any "punk" band ,since it’s been "done
before" since the late 70’s). Dexter Holland’s
"ho-yeahs" still sound meaningful, and he still sticks
to the 4/4 rhyming verses that have served "Offspring"
well from the start. The guitars are still favoring the typical
4 chord progressions (mute for quiet dynamics, hit-em hard for
the loud stuff).
“Americana” lacks some of the
general flavorful hooks missing since their debut, "Smash,"
but this album is not a total digression backwards either. More
of a lateral movement, in that they haven’t strayed much
from what they’ve done previously. Basically, this album
is as good as the last one (and a distant runner up to the hard
to beat "Smash," still the biggest selling independent
rock album in history). It’s a solid listen, but only for
the die-hard "Offspring" fan. There's not a lot sticking
out as special, but again, nothing sticking out as worthless
either, with one exception and newest radio single, "Get
a Job." Isn’t anybody else appalled at the blatant
“Ob-la-de Ob-la-da” rip-off this song is? Right down
to the chorus and shaker sounds of the second verse, this is
the Beatles song with some different lyrics. Unless this is some
intentional joke by the "Offspring," I can’t believe
someone didn’t stand up during the writing of this song
and go “Y’know what...this is a friggin’ Beatles
song!”
A somewhat fun song (and I stress somewhat)
is "Feelings" - yeah that old song, sounding like an
album being played at 45 speed. As a whole listen, “Americana”
(much like any band of this particular flavor) will start to
sound sameish, but I guess it’s a talented uniformity in
the sameness.
The standout "original" track
is the current single "Pretty Fly (for a white guy),"
and even though it lifts its main progression from the "Keep
’em Separated" song, it has a cheeky catchiness in
it’s sarcasm and some witty put-down lyrics. This is not
necessarily the best song here, just the one that sticks out
different from the cookie-cutter reproduction of the rest of
the songs. And for a bonus, but not cool enough in it’s
necessity, is the Spanish flavored rework of the song at the
end of the disk, complete with Larry “Bud” Melman chiming
in on the "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" lines. “Americana”
is for the fan, not the convert.
The overview of "Americana" -
"Offspring" doing solid "Offspring" type
songs, nothing more, and on this album, a little less. |
