HEY, VINNIE! GO GET YOUR FUCKIN' JUKEBOX!

AGNOSTIC FRONT: When I was little and would do something bad, my parents would smack my little vinnie behind. It was old school discipline, and it was for my own good. That’s kinda how I feel when I listen to Agnostic Front. They’re society’s musical disciplinary whooping that keeps us all in line. And they have a brand-new, 14-song musical knuckle sandwich coming out in October called Dead Yuppies. It’s both a power-to-the-people call-to-arms, and a “step to this” dis of every party responsible for dishing out all the inequalities, injustices and wrongful judgments we have to suffer. It’s loud and clear as can be, especially on tracks like “Liberty”, “Pedophile” and the much-appreciated title-track. As vocalist Roger Miret says on the Epitaph website, “There is a message contained in this: ‘Think before you strike.’”
PULLEY: Then there’s the other half of my Epitaph two-pack: Pulley’s Together Again for the First Time. Now, Pulley is punk. Pop punk. Very melody-driven. The band is very in touch with that sensitive side of themselves that a robot like me is wholly unfamiliar with. Together Again for the First Time finds Pulley belting out numbers of the heart, the state of the world and just plain loving to do what they do. Very similar to Face to Face, back when they actually wrote decent songs. But while I’ll admit to singing along to a few of the standout tracks (“In Search”, “Fuel” and “Destiny 30 Sec.”), I really couldn’t get into it. Maybe it’s just too poppy for my liking. But check it out for yourself. If you like bands like No Use For A Name or Lagwagon, you’ll dig it.
THE ENGLISH BEAT: The English Beat were a two-tone musical act from England that mixed the fast tempos & social consciousness of punk rock with the ska, rocksteady and reggae rhythms of Jamaica. Beat This! is their newly released 15-track retrospective from London-Sire Records. It’s got all the goodies: “Mirror in the Bathroom”, “Hands Off She’s Mine”, “Tears of a Clown” and the politically-charged “Stand Down Margaret”. There are only two tracks on this disc that I consider to be weak English Beat material: “I Confess” and “Save it for Later”. They’re typical, straight-up pop songs. Not what The Beat was best known for and not what made them as great as they were. Still, that’s 13 tracks that still sound better than most of what’s being made now, almost 20 years after The English Beat disbanded.