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Ann Beretta

Three Chord Revolution (2003)
Union Label Group

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: Adam
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on November 7th 2003

Ann Beretta's major accomplishment with Three Chord Revolution is that they're aging gracefully. The Richmond VA band has always kept a balance between traditional `77-styled punk and modern power-pop, two styles that are notoriously difficult to keep relevant and believable as time passes. It's therefore a positive development that Ann Beretta's scaled down the anger and have developed on their always-solid melodic side. Frontman Robbie Huddleson doubtlessly wrote much of this material acoustically, as big punk rock distortion is given much less emphasis on Three Chord Revolution then on records from similar bands.

There's a two-fold effect of the more subdued (but certainly still rocking) feel of Three Chord Revolution. On one hand, initially the music isn't didn't seem as engrossing as I was expecting. It seemed that on the first few spins the disc faded to the background of whatever I was doing. Yet as I run through the 12 tracks now, there's no doubt that this is a band that's had some time to mesh and grow as songwriters. So while not the most immediately hooky or strikingly original batch of songs, they're still quite well written and enjoyable. This leads to my second point, that the relaxed approach of this record really gives the band room to flesh out tracks that could have easily come off as dime-a-dozen punk anthems.

Ann Beretta's best quality is their ability to take a fairly standard punk approach and make it sound introspective and heartfelt. You can attribute this to the band's influence from US heartland rock, a sound they've managed to capture much more organically then groups with similar approaches like Sixer or Worthless United. Even Ann Beretta's big anthemic tracks like "New Revolution" come off with more sincerity than sloganeering.

Three Chord Revolution won't grab you immediately, but given time it reveals itself as a tuneful, mature punk rock album.

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Anonymous (November 24, 2005)

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Anonymous (November 14, 2003)

i saw them at a record store in buffalo with 5 other people. it was fun.

Anonymous (November 10, 2003)

russ is back in the band

Anonymous (November 9, 2003)

I really enjoy this band.

That is all, I have to go back to cleaning my room.

- Scott
http://www.local-felons.com/
(La de da da)

REALPUNX4LIFE (November 8, 2003)

I haven't liked anything these guys have done since the Burning Bridges EP but I'm gonna see them in a month (with GRABASS CHARLESTONS whose new record rocks your socks!) and I'm hoping for the best. I really liked those first two "real" releases but the last two full lengths have been stinkers. The acoustic record was pretty good. So are both Foundation releases.

Analog_Boy (November 8, 2003)

These guys fucking rock hard. Solid shit.

Anonymous (November 8, 2003)

no. fuck you! loser.

sickboi (November 8, 2003)

Fuck off to the guy below.

Anonymous (November 8, 2003)

Leer is still a better songwriter. Check out sixer. Beautiful Trash is 10 times better then this.

Anonymous (November 8, 2003)

is russ out of the band?
because i've seen them a couple times int he past year and i swear its the same drummer still hitting the skins as hard as possible. i swear its the same guy...

TahoeJeff (November 7, 2003)

saw these guys a few weeks ago..awesome stuff

notfeelingcreative (November 7, 2003)

It's no "bitter tongues", but I love this band. THey never get the respect they deserve!

Anonymous (November 7, 2003)

can't find this damn album in local stores. i want it old union new glory is great.

sickboi (November 7, 2003)

Damn Adam, I had just written a review of this and you said almost the exact same thing as me. I'm starting to view AB as "punk rock for old people".

I think the addition of Donovan on bass was key in the success of this albums sounds. But whats weird is that the liner notes say Russ did the drumming on this, yet he left the band almost a year ago.

Regardless, this one will definately be in my top 10 for the year.