Punknews.orgPunknews.org Logo
Review Navigator

BackForward

Features

 

Contests

 




Reviews

Street Dogs - State of Grace
Register to Vote: Rock the Vote, powered by Credo Mobile

Recently, punk rock has just become boring. So leave it to a band closing in on their third decade of music to revitalize it with this, their umpteenth full-length release.

Stiff Little Fingers rock through 14 songs on this album with reckless abandon, yet somehow retain a strong pop sensibility. One listen to the album's title track would make Elvis Costello curse himself for not writing the song himself. "Strummerville," the band's tribute to the fallen Clash frontman, is upbeat, peppy, and heartfelt, complete with a "Clash City Rockers" outtro. This is unarguably the album's best song, but there's nary a dud in the bunch.

Singer Jake Burns carries a sticky-sweet melody on slower tracks like "Dead Man Walking", but can then spin right around on the next track, the "Ace Of Spades"-esque "Empty Sky." Burns' voice truly rips on this song.

The only real misstep on the disc comes with track eight, "Be True To Yourself." It's an ill-advised foray into ska, and one that shouldn't really be duplicated. A few other songs are clunky at points, but considering the band is this far into their career, they're not all going to be winners.

Kung Fu has really neglected this album, promotion-wise, and I can't really understand why - this album not only has the nostalgia angle to sell, but it's the best pure punk rock album that's come out in quite some time (beating out more of their reunion-tour peers, as well). A worthy addition to your collection.

MP3s
Guitar And Drum
Can't Get Away With That



People who liked this also liked:
The Weakerthans - Reconstruction SiteThe Weakerthans - FallowThe Weakerthans - Left and LeavingAlkaline Trio - GoddamnitNone More Black - This Is SatireAgainst Me! - As The Eternal CowboyThe Lawrence Arms - The Greatest Story Ever ToldBomb the Music Industry! / O Pioneers!!! - Split [10 inch]The Clash - London CallingWorld/Inferno Friendship Society - Addicted to Bad Ideas



Please login or register to post comments.
What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
  • Share your opinion by posting comments on the stories that interest you
  • Rate music and bands and help shape the weekly top ten
  • Let Punknews.org use your ratings to help you find bands and albums you might like
  • Customize features on the site to get the news the way you want.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, April 19, 2006 at 4:54 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    great record. personally my fav out of all their cds.

    Posted by TrailerParkJesus on 2004-08-24 01:33:35
    My Score:

    yeah, I've seen it too, sometimes. But it is pretty dick. I mean, count the stars just didn't deserve it. I would say sorry if I were you. Don't hate, just love.

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, August 23, 2004 at 1:01 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    that is the first BSD comment i have ever found mildly entertaining

    Posted by johnnydanger on 2004-08-23 11:27:15
    My Score:

    Good one bsd!! hahaha!!!

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, August 23, 2004 at 3:20 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    it does sound like new stuff by newer bands. even though ive only heard 1 song off the record. i'm glad theyre back! they have a song on tony hawks underground. great game by the way. BAM Margera rocks with the few things they let him say on the game.

    "mmm, tanks. look at these tanks. damn look at these tanks! we can't go skating right now look at these tanks!DAMN!"

    i like the first episode of viva la bam where he puts hamburgers on all of phils shirts. and where ape kicks the wall because there is a skate park in the kitchen.HILARIOUS! I like the one where don vitos car is in the tree.

    oh yea my score is 4 bam

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 22, 2004 at 4:17 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    OneTrueBill

    Me too

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 22, 2004 at 4:15 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Was Jake Burns castrated?

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 22, 2004 at 1:17 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    ""this band sounds like greenday"

    Someone has never seen High Fidelity. Scores for the tasteless bastard who posted this comment."

    someone didn't pick up on his joke. scores for being a slow bastard.

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 22, 2004 at 1:48 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Good review and good album. First two tracks are definately the best.

    -Strewtho

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 22, 2004 at 12:48 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    They've survived longer than like fifteen of these new bands that crash their vans all over the place.

    -BSD

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, August 21, 2004 at 10:19 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    this band hasn't died yet?

    Posted by SOYBOMB on 2004-08-21 19:23:34
    My Score:

    "Recently, punk rock has just become boring"

    Recently?

    Peace,
    -SOYBOMB-

    Posted by Cos on 2004-08-21 14:45:56
    My Score:

    Yeah, I'm not entriely sure how Kung-Fu would promote it anyway:

    "here's STF's new album. You little fuckers probably won't buy it, because it don't sound like New Found Glory, and you older farts won't buy it because its not as good as Inflammable Material. But we like putting out records by old punk guys (see label owner's band..)."

    Seriously, it sounds good enough, but I'll probably just save my money for something else by a younger band with a little more fire in their belly.

    --Cos

    Posted by ThreeChordsAndTheTruth on 2004-08-21 11:47:13
    My Score:

    "They didn't even promote the new Vandals album which just is sad since you'd think Joe would make sure his own band gets some attention."

    Word, I knew nothing about that record till I saw it reviewed here.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, August 21, 2004 at 2:01 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    SLF was great, but it's really time for them to pack it in.

    Posted by TheOnetrueBill on 2004-08-21 01:13:59
    My Score:

    July 27 they're in chicago. I think I'm going to skip over my freshman orientation at school to see them.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, August 21, 2004 at 1:08 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Uh, newsflash kids.

    Kung Fu isn't Drive-Thru. They aren't sucking off the majors in return for a promotional budget.

    Punk bands in the TRUE indie label world have to tour to sell records. They don't need two-page spreads in Rolling Stone to get the word out.

    Posted by sciulli on 2004-08-21 01:06:10
    My Score:

    "Someone has never seen High Fidelity."

    or maybe they have seen it. And that's why they said what they said.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, August 20, 2004 at 11:25 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    "One listen to the album's title track would make Elvis Costello curse himself for not writing the song himself."

    No, no it wouldn't.

    Posted by TheNightProwler on 2004-08-20 23:06:14
    My Score:

    "Kung Fu has really neglected this album, promotion-wise"
    I think that can be said with just about anything Kung-Fu puts out, they're just not good at promoting any releases from their label. They didn't even promote the new Vandals album which just is sad since you'd think Joe would make sure his own band gets some attention.

    Posted by lostinthecrowd13 on 2004-08-20 22:49:54
    My Score:

    "this band sounds like greenday"

    Someone has never seen High Fidelity. Scores for the tasteless bastard who posted this comment.

    Posted by gladimnotemo on 2004-08-20 22:25:29
    My Score:

    "Recently, punk rock has just become boring."

    Well, that's pretty much an outright lie.

    "Guitar and Drum" (the song) was the poppiest I've ever heard SLF.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, August 20, 2004 at 9:28 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    this band sounds like greenday

    Posted by Toby_at_Fat on 2004-08-20 21:05:29
    My Score:

    Just saw SLF at Slims last week and they were great. If any old fans are leery about having to sit through a bunch of "new shit", you shouldn't let that discourage you. Yes, the songs from this album stood out and pretty much fell flat, but they play about half of "Inflammable Material", half of "Nobody's Heroes", the 3 best songs off "Go For It", and then some new shit. It was awesome, and Jake Burns threw an amazing fit when he got hit in the face with a shoe...

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, August 20, 2004 at 9:03 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    This has been out a while in the UK, I think it's probably their best newer album progression-wise, but I think it's pretty boring.

    -BSD

    © 1999-2006 Punknews.org • Terms of Use • Privacy • FAQ • About • ISSN 1710-5366 • RSS RSS Icon