The Movielife Has a Gambling Problem (2001) Drive-Thru

Admit it, there's something really quite satisfying about proving someone wrong. The only thing better than proving someone else wrong, though, is proving YOURSELF wrong. Let's say one of your favorite bands has a new release coming out, and you're completely psyched for it. You go to the record store the day it comes out and you buy it. You come home, and you rip the packaging open, and you put it in your stereo. Shortly thereafter, a look on your face appears, akin to the expression you've got on your face after you've finished watching the scene in "Waterworld" where Kevin Costner drinks his own (albeit, filtered) urine.

You love said band so much, and you want so badly to love this record as much as you love all the other ones. You just can’t, however. So you throw the CD to the back of your closet, or the bottom of your shelf. One day when you’re cleaning stuff up to haul over to the local used record store, you decide to pop the album in, just for the hell of it, and you find out how much you actually appreciate the record. You’ve progressed in your taste, and you can’t imagine thinking of a time when you *gasp* HATED that record!

Has a Gambling Problem, for me, is that record.

The album kicks off with one of the catchiest songs in this Long Island, New York group’s catalog, "Walking on Glass." This track sets the tone for the following four songs, taking the band’s use of melodic pop-punk from the previous full-length, This Time Next Year, to a new level, with a much more refined and precise sound. This could also have been the point of contention for many people, though, as many undoubtedly prefer the rougher, more hardcore leanings of It’s Go Time and This Time Next Year.

So here we are, four years after the release of this EP, and the Movielife are no longer together. Sure, it’s only been a couple years since the breakup, but I’m still holding out hope for a reunion, as I never got to see this band while they were around. At least I’ve got this EP and 3 full-lengths to keep me company.

(P-Fresh)