Various - Give 'em The Boot V

  by Jamie Rowland

published: 18 / 6 / 2006

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Review

This is the fifth compilation (Yes indeed I did pay attention at school)from Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong’s record label Hellcat. It is yet another compilation featuring a combination of some new and unreleased songs from some of the better known bands on the label, alongside some of the newer and up and coming bands. This album, as these albums usually are, is packed full of punk rock goodness, although I do find a lot of the more straight up punk rock bands on it do sound incredibly similar to Rancid and Tim Armstrong in particular, but maybe that’s just me. Having mentioned punk in twice in the sentence it is vital to mention that this album, however, offers more than just three chord playing angry young dudes. There is an increasing amount of old style ska and reggae music on display here, such as the likes of the Slackers with 'Crazy' and 'I’m No Different' by Westbound Train, the latter of which shows obvious similarities to Long Beach legends, Sublime at their most mellow moments. The Aggrolites bring some funky vibes to the table with the rather aptly titled 'Funky Fire'. Also on offer is some Psychobilly tunage from the likes of Tiger Army, Nekromantix and the Horrorpops, all going to show that punk rock is not such a straightforward scene and is open to the other influences that are out there. I was expecting 18 songs lasting around 2 minutes that would make me want to don a pair of Doc Martins and get a Mohawk hair do. That didn't happen and there really is a good bit of variety on this. Fear not as there is more than enough punk which does exactly what it should do. This comes in the form of Rancid themselves with their new song 'Tattoo' which is a great example of this band at their finest, with it catchy chorus and street poetry-esque lyrics. There are sing-a-long anthems as well, from "the other Rancid guy” Lars Fredrikson and his band the Bastards, and new Anglo-American punks Orange whose song has a title title I would be far to embarrassed to write in public. For the sake of politeness we’ll say its called 'I’m a James Blunt'. It starts out more than a little stupid and juvenile, but turns out to be a fantastic punk rock numbe. It pays homage to the Sex Pistols, the Libertines and the Descendants and you could imagaine it being a drunken set closer all at once. Nevertheless it is fun. As ever this is a cheap compilation with plenty of good tunes on that would make a perfect sound track for a punk fuelled night out, so you cannot argue with it.

Track Listing:-

1 Rancid Tattoo
2 Dropkick Murphys The Warrior's Code
3 Time Again Cold Concrete
4 Tiger Army Swift Silent Deadly
5 The Unseen Act The Part
6 The Slackers Crazy
7 Left Alone The Sinner
8 The Aggrolites Funky Fire
9 HorrorPops Crawl Straight Home
10 Roger Miret And The Disasters* Another Generation
11 The Heart Attacks Widow Maker
12 Mercy Killers Pamint De Mort
13 Westbound Train I'm No Different
14 Lars Frederiksen And The Bastards The Kids Aren't Quiet On Sharmon Palms
15 Orange (14) I'm A CXXt
16 Nekromantix Driller Killer
17 Static Thought Victim Of Hate
18 Los Difuntos Day And Night