Not surprisingly The Spears sound alot like the Pink Lincolns, Reason? - Chris Barrows. This is the ex Pink Lincolns vocalists' new band and also contains former/current members of Down by Law & DRI (I was surprised too!). They deliver snotty and tuneful 80's influenced hardcore punk rock along the lines of Barrow's former band. Although the musicianship is alot more accomplished, as is the production quality, but does that make it better? I'm not sure. The Pink Lincolns were a great band and that had much to do with Chris Barrows for sure, but this CD maybe doesn't have the charm, rawness and energy of certainly the early output of that band. The Pink Lincolns sound is represented on this release but because of the musical skill (particularly Sam Williams) of the other members this sometimes comes off as a little "too polished". Don't get me wrong, this is no huge slickly produced attempt at being the next - insert generic modern punk band name here - but I guess the high benchmark left by the Pink Lincolns is something I was really yearning for with this release. In saying all that this is pretty fucking great and has not left my stereo since I bought it, Barrows still has quite a bit to say and never disappoints lyrically. This is the perfect union between, to the point, non pretentious lyrics and great overtly early American hardcore punk rock. Sometimes we forget why we listen to what we listen to, this is a reminder of everything that is good about punk rock done right. Highly recommended.

Being generally clueless and unhip, this is the first album I've bought by Cobra Skulls. This is their second album I believe and makes for some pretty good listening. It varies quite a bit in terms of styles, I hear Youth Brigade, One Man Army, Against Me, Clash influences, psycobilly & rockabilly, a latino element and just enough of it's own originality to take it above a lot stuff out there at the minute. Fast and slow song structures with great melodies and an always addictive chorus make this another great release from Red Scare. This band will be "signed" by a bigger label I would think for their next release, so buy this now before the secret gets out. The best tracks for me are 2 of the slower ones on here - Rebel Fate & Overpopulated. I will let this one sink in for a while then buy their other album and EP, good stuff.

This is a lot better than their BYO release of a few years ago, they seem to have mastered their sound with this one. Big guitar noise, layered almost to the detriment of the other instruments but I guess that is how they want this to sound. Slightly more melodic is my first impression of this and it really works. This band so want to be Leatherface (musically), but no-one is ever going to achieve that!! They come off sounding kinda like Tiltwheel, but with a little more fury. Yeah this is good shit.

Wow this is pretty fucking good. I've been listening to DOA for over 20 years and this is their best album in a long time, there's not a bad one on here. The sound is great, really crisp and clear, the drums in particular sound really good and Joey has written some of his best songs since probably Hardcore 81. They do mix it up somewhat in terms of styles, but unlike their last effort (Live Free of Die), this actually works well. It's pretty close to "Win the Battle" in terms of production and song structure and for me that's damn good!! Some of the melodies really hark back to their glory days, without sounding repetitive or over-used, the musicianship is top drawer (in particular Joeys guitar work) and the vocals/lyrics are right on the mark. DOA can be hit or miss sometimes, and after so many years it must be difficult to come up with the goods but this delivers. Great album, highly recomended.

From the opening "Play that piece of shit!!!!", yelled by singer B.A, you know the 10 year wait is finally over and it's time to get drunk & stupid!! This is a fucking rocker right from the off, straight up pop punk "n" roll from the masters. One steamroller of a hit after another with no let up from the opening chord to the last. Well worth the wait in my opinion. Following on pretty much from where "More Trouble Than They're Worth" left off this is a timely re-introduction to the scene by the Junk Rock legends for anyone who may have forgotten what a truly amazing band Sloppy Seconds is. There's a lot of great pop punk out there at the minute and this just makes that scene even more exciting as this is definately top of the heap of recent realeases. With titles like, DIY till we Die!, Kegs R 4 Kids, You Can't Kill Joey Ramone, Thanks for the Mammaries & Shut Up and Pour me a Drink, you know you're onto a winner. Great sound, plenty of ooommph in the guitars, superbly stupid (but intelligent) lyrics and more of a rock n roll flavour, this delivers exactly what Sloppy Seconds worshippers like me waited so long for. A great release from Kid Tested Records, which looks like along with Red Scare, could be a label I'll buy every release. They have already put out a Manges best of, reissued the Parasites "It's Alive" Ramones cover and this gem. They have reissues of out of print Parasites albums + are releasing their latest offering sometime in the Autumn. I can't wait, great fucking start, Sloppy Seconds being the best of the bunch. Keep up the good work!!!

Follows on brilliantly from their last album & could easily have been recorded in the same session. Identical sound & song structure (it's pop punk after all) & this rates as highly as the last one. I still think they are the best pop punk band around, better than The Copyrights, Methadones etc, even though they have the worst name of any band I can remember. Red Scare come up trumps again with another top drawer release, keep it up.

If like me you are a DOA fan you will appreciate this for what it is. Not the best DOA album in history (not by a long way), but certainly a worthy addition to your collection. Circumstances meant that this album, recorded over 10 years ago, never saw the light of day until recently and it is not bad. Some songs have been released on other ep's etc and some have been re-recorded and updated for inclusion on more recent recordings. Joey's in good form as usual & nice to see John Wright stepping in behind the skins, keeping the standard as high as possible for some under par DOA songs. This really followed on from 13 Flavours of Doom & Loggerheads, so if you own those you'll know what you're getting. I wouldn't urge anyone just getting into them to start here, Something Better Change & Hardcore 81 are the best first time exposures of this band as those albums are up there with any top 100 rated punk albums ever. I would gather up everything else first then get this. But I do still recommend this to fans as a document of that 90's period, good stuff.

Still my favourite band, but was hoping for maybe some different tracks to every other live album they've put out. They stick to the formula and it's a decent recording, but they should mix the set up from time to time, even for their sake, they must be bored shitless playing the same 20 songs every gig. I think some songs off later albums are just too difficult to play live but then again most aren't. A better mix would have made this an up to date document of this great band, but it falls short somewhat. Still if you love the Dickies like me, you'll buy this and be happy, I only hope a new studio album is somewhere in the pipeline, but I'll not hold my breath. 5 stars cos' they are still the undisputed kings.

Ummm, a couple of good songs but mostly stuff that wasn't good enough to be released on any of their albums. Varying styles, punk, ska, rockabilly (sort of) and so on. I don't even know if they are still going, frankly I bought this because I own all their albums and have stayed loyal to them even though they seem to be just a major label teeny bop punk band these days. Long gone are the glory days of their first album & Gilman & all that shite, ah well all good things.....

Good to see this reissued. Some pretty long songs in that Jawbreaker / Leatherface vein that is hard to top. Funny they never seemed to get a lot of exposure but this is well worth checking out. By no means the greatest album you'll ever buy but certainly a worthy addition to your collection. Each song seems to build, with layers of guitars and some decent lyrics. Cheap too so you've no excuse.