Thursday, June 24, 2004
June 23: The Ataris - So Long, Astoria
Why do I own this? For the record, I bought this way before the whole "Boys of Summer" phenomenon last year.
Ataris singer Kris Roe has two strong handicaps: he's a strikingly unattractive man, perhaps one of the ugliest frontmen in rock, and his singing range is about six notes. Yet he manages to overcome all that with regular albums of pop-punk. I bought this because I liked the first single, "In This Diary," despite the super-emo lyrics. Then I listened to it off and on for a couple of months, set it down when "Boys of Summer" hit the radio and haven't picked it back up since, hence its place in the "Keep or Sell" pile.
Really, though, this isn't bad. The worst you can say about it is it comes off as a second-rate Jimmy Eat World, and in my book, second-rate Jimmy is still pretty decent. There are about three too many songs on here (as well as TWO hidden tracks... come on, guys!), but it still gets an overall thumbs up.
Keep or Sell? Keep.
Ataris singer Kris Roe has two strong handicaps: he's a strikingly unattractive man, perhaps one of the ugliest frontmen in rock, and his singing range is about six notes. Yet he manages to overcome all that with regular albums of pop-punk. I bought this because I liked the first single, "In This Diary," despite the super-emo lyrics. Then I listened to it off and on for a couple of months, set it down when "Boys of Summer" hit the radio and haven't picked it back up since, hence its place in the "Keep or Sell" pile.
Really, though, this isn't bad. The worst you can say about it is it comes off as a second-rate Jimmy Eat World, and in my book, second-rate Jimmy is still pretty decent. There are about three too many songs on here (as well as TWO hidden tracks... come on, guys!), but it still gets an overall thumbs up.
Keep or Sell? Keep.
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