The 'Tone

While ska-ish Punk is a little played out these days, here is one of those cases, yet again, that when something is played this well, it just doesn't frickin' matter. Any English band that includes Thatcher on Acid frontman Ben Corrigan on guitar just has to have hot riffs, and there's as much good old punk & roll as there is ska on this 12-track compilation of the band's first three import singles (and two bonus tracks). The CD announces itself with a blatantly Jam-influenced slammer called "This Is a High" that begins much like the Clash's "Clash City Rockers" or "Guns on the Riff," and two tracks later appropriates the Clash's "Guns of Brixton" lyric "Where you gonna run." (Later, in "Roadkill," they also filch the intro to the Clash's cover of Junior Murvin's "Police and Thieves.") Most of all, the Tone sound like 1979-1980 Stiff Little Fingers when they covered Bob Marley or the Specials, with two high-octane guitars and a steady rocksteady rhythm to match the chunky riffs. "Virtual Punk" further sounds like the Young Canadians' 1979 surf-punk classic "Hawaii," and other singer Dan Bernstein sometimes sounds like Joe Strummer singing "Wrong 'Em Boyo" or "Pressure Drop." Again, this is 100% nostalgic, but it's so tight, crunchy, and meaty that it's hard to care about that.

Wide Eyes And Nonsense... Grinding Gum And Molars (1999)

01 - This Is A High

02 - Nine To Life

03 - Johnny Too Bad

04 - Virtual Punk

05 - Pauline

06 - Roadkill

07 - Alright

08 - Falling Over

09 - Busy Being Bored

10 - Bloody

11 - I Don't Think

12 - Back To Basics

Here's Another Reason... To Believe In Rock 'N' Roll (2001)

01 - Queen Of The Shoplifters
02 - Graham Of Norwood Junction
03 - Metropolitan Cafe
04 - Bullshit
05 - Car Crash Television
06 - Real World
07 - Turn It Up
08 - Who's That Man?
09 - I'm Ecstatic
10 - Nowheresville
11 - I Don't Wanna Talk About It
12 - Outside The Post Office

pass: freepunk77