The Street Dogs return Back to the 70's? - MattA75's ISYMIYSMY W/O
Written: May 23 '06 (Updated May 23 '06)
Product Rating:
Pros: Good honest fun with straightforward sing-along work
Cons: it's sort-of-a mix between power pop and punk revivalist??
The Bottom Line: The Street Dogs power-pop-punk-revivalist touch works as a guilty pleasure of sorts, with interesting themes and subject matter...I’m just not the fun-power-pop-punk-revivalist type of guy, OK! ;)
vanwarp's Full Review: Back to the World by Street Dogs
MattA75 is hosting another yearly installment of his popular “I’ll Show You Mine If You’ll Show Me Yours Write/Off.” Participants were randomly paired and my W/O buddy this year is none other than our W/O host MattA75. We exchanged e-mails and provided one another with several different selections to pick from. The idea is to introduce your lucky partner to music he would not normally go looking for himself or listen to unless someone was twisting his arm or torturing him. (haha)
Matt must have perused my music reviews as he recommended a genre and style that hasn’t excited me in years. It’s almost like I outgrew the genre and style a couple of decades ago? A genre that, for me, was defined by The Clash, The Sex Pistols and The Knack. Now, several decades later, we have The Street Dogs. Most fans of punk revivalist music abhor much of the modern punk sound of today - Sum 41, Blink 182, Good Charlotte, Simple Plan, Billy Talent - with the exception of perhaps Green Day who have clearly been influenced by other genres on their most recent effort.
In any event, the music here reminded me most of my daughter’s first band and demo. The music is raw, defiantly young at heart, I was surprised by the heartfelt themes, the mature subject matter of the songs on hand here. The lyrics constantly reminded me that these are grown men, with real life experiences, not the young rebels of yesteryear but very much the adult rebels of today and clearly not what I was expecting considering my limited knowledge of the genre.
Coming from a metalhead standpoint (in this day and age, I know??), I obviously moved on to other genres and styles of music after The Clash, The Sex Pistols and The Knack, in a sense, I always considered punk music as “juvenile”, appealing more to a young audience. Even when my daughter was 14/15 and playing this style of music with her band, it was completely appropriate and I enjoyed it at the time and I had a good reason to...I mean, I had to encourage my daughter and all! The simplicity of the music makes it ideal for defiant 14/15 year olds to play and sing-along to, very uncomplicated music, easy to learn and most of all a lot of fun to play when in a band. But just as my daughter progressed to more complex music, to those genres and styles that command a little more respect from its audience, that ultimately bring a band a little more credibility if you like, well, so did I...progress to something else I mean!
I’m not saying that The Street Dogs have no credibility. On the contrary, they are true to the genre and style of music that they create and I respect that. But, just as I might be more tempted to buy a box of chocolate from a kid selling it to raise money for a school activity than from an 30 something just trying to make a buck. I mean, if I would have anything to say to McColgan it would be something like this: “come on, grow up buddy, follow Green Day’s example and take your music to the next level!” Anyway, I’m not trying to annoy anybody with my comments, just stating how I feel after taking this album out for an afternoon spin. This was like taking a trip back to the 70's with modern time themes! What I’m trying to say is that the music of Back to the World is stuck in yesteryear...so, if you like those early punk years, you’ll truly enjoy this disc.
McColgan shouts less than what he did when he was fronting The Dropkick Murphy’s more than 8 years ago. He left them to become a firefighter and after a few years of doing that job he put The Street Dogs together and in 2003 they released their debut album: Savin’ Hill.
Fast forward a few years and the band returns Back to the World with mature adult themes. McColgan pays tribute to his old neighborhood on “In defense of Dorchester,” he sympathizes with a war veteran who drinks his life away on “Stagger” and with a lonely soldier who misses his wife and children while being “stuck in this desert mess” on “Back to the World.” McColgan doesn’t stop there. He is outraged by the suffering of the victims of domestic abuse on “Hands Down” and he even manages to write a song about blue collar workers and “White Collar Fraud.” McColgan writes and sings about what everybody is talking about lately, the subject du jour on “Tale of Mass Deception.” Talk about an album with substance, a true tour de force for the genre, I’m sure.
In addition, there’s a lot of sing-along interplay between McColgan and the “gang style” back-up vocals. There’s also a lot of “Oh-o-oh’s” spread out throughout the album. This is a very good album in the genre and style of music it represents - that is punk revivalist. Probably deserves a very solid 4 star rating, but not from me. You see, I enjoyed this album just as much as I enjoyed the more modern punk bands of today...Blink 182, Sum 41, Green Day, Billy Talent, Simple Plan. The music is fun, but ultimately forgettable and good for a limited number of spins for me, after which, I relegate the disc to collecting dust on my CD rack. I think Billy Talent’s debut album got more spins out of me in the past two years than the rest of those bands combined. I never reviewed Billy Talent which would probably only have gotten a three star rating from me anyway, and I probably never would have reviewed anything by The Street Dogs if MattA75 would not have introduced me to the band in the first place.
Sorry Matt, I enjoyed it, but this is jejune music to me! :(
Guitar work - average
Rhythm section - above average
Vocals - above average
Lyrics - above average
Song composition - good variety
1. Strike a Blow - 3m01s - (9/10)
2. You Alone - 2m57s - (9/10)
3. In Defense of Dorchester - 2m31s - (7/10)
4. Back to the World - 2m44s - (8/10)
5. Tale of Mass Deception - 2m56s - (8/10)
6. Drink Tonight - 1m11s - (6/10)
7. Stagger - 2m54s - (7/10)
8. White Collar Fraud - 2m20s - (7/10)
9. Patrick - 2m57s - (6/10)
10. Pull The Pin - 2m38s - (6/10)
11. Hands Down - 3m06s - (9/10)
12. Unions and the Law - 2m48s - (7/10)
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