Used Kids
Yeah No LP
Salinas
Tenement split 7”
608 Kisses
I like this record a lot but given the Used Kids choice of styles it’s best to put the potential pitfalls up front. Let’s use “Desperate Times” as an example. First, it’s called “Desperate Times.” There’s a breakdown two and a half minutes into the song. That’s when most songs are eyeing the exit but Nato and company are just getting started. Then in said breakdown we hear “rock ‘em back now” and “hang on.” This is a minefield of clichés. Toss in the harmonica and ever-present organ and you should be thinking Bruce Springsteen or Tom Petty. You’d think that treading lightly would be best practice given the circumstances but Used Kids gleefully barrel through, fully aware of and unconcerned with the treacherous landscape. They’re not winking at the conventions of classic rock, not trying to make them cool. They genuinely like the stuff, revel in it, songs about backyard barbeques and dancing the night away, romantic notions of good times and good friends sweeping your troubles away. They’ve got me doing it too. Right fine, this album.
That said Tenement wins the battle of the bands on the split 7”. “Earwig” is perfect, crunchy guitars, just a bit of snarl in the vocals and a hook that sticks the first time. In college we called it (with much affection) “flannel rock.” Soul Asylum, Husker Du, the Wrench. “Spaghetti Midwestern” is pretty good, too. The Used Kids counter with a good cover of Billy Joel’s “You May Be Right,” retitled “I Crashed Your Party (which is a much better title) and it works well. There’s also an original, “Silver and Gold,” but unlike Yeah No it doesn’t stray enough from classic rock.
– Mike Faloon
Comments