Adolescents – OC Confidential CD
Finger Records
Its been a very long time since the Adolescents recorded a new studio album and by long time, I am talking nearly two decades! Their first album, affectionately known as The Blue Album, has reached legendary and classic status, it is easily one of the finest early hardcore records of all time. Two followup albums failed to capture the magic of the first one, and were also marred with various lineup changes and infighting. Now original members Tony Reflex, Steve Soto and Frank Agnew, along with drummer Derek O’Brien are back in action with all new material and I have to say, age has been rather kind to them.
While that first album can never be duplicated, this new material easily stands on its own as a good mix between the old and the new. The title track, “Hawks and Doves” sounds like it could have easily been on the band’s second LP, Brats in Battalions“. It’s pretty straight up punk rock. The second track, “Lockdown America” is the real standout on here and is nearly as catchy of a song as their classic “Amoeba”. The chorus hooks you in similar to that song and I guarantee that it will get stuck in your head for days. The rest of the album is pretty solid for the most part, making it a rather pleasing listen from start to finish, that is when I don’t keep skipping backwards to hear “Lockdown America” again and again.
The CD comes complete with the full lyrics which while obviously more grown up now that the band aren’t teenagers anymore, are still full of enough youthful angst to prove that the band members may have aged, but they still have it. The band recently played a small tour to support this record and the word on the street was they were pretty stellar live. Any long time fan of punk would do well to give this record a try, they still are better than a lot of bands half their age.
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