The Lillingtons

The Lillingtons: The Too Late ShowThe Too Late Show (2006)
Red Scare

Reviewer Rating: 4

User Rating:

Contributed by: henrychinaskihenrychinaski
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Published on October 24th 2006It's that time of the year again. Hellish ghouls, ghosts, and goblins will roam the night. Glowing orange jack-o-lanterns sneer from every door step. Witches gather to cast their unholy spells. Vampires rise from their coffins with an unending thirst for blood. Cursed werewolves howl their pain out .

It's that time of the year again. Hellish ghouls, ghosts, and goblins will roam the night. Glowing orange jack-o-lanterns sneer from every door step. Witches gather to cast their unholy spells. Vampires rise from their coffins with an unending thirst for blood. Cursed werewolves howl their pain out to an unsympathetic moon. Zombies hunt for human brains to sate their terrible hunger. That's right -- Halloween is almost here! And as punk rockers, you are searching for the perfect soundtrack to get you in the mood, right? Well, you are in luck because the Lillingtons are back! Yes, ladies and gentleman, the creepy cool three-piece punk band from Newcastle, Wyoming has returned from the dead to kick all of our asses with more tunes about aliens, zombies, and spies.

For those of you who aren't familiar with this band, they self-released their first album Shit Out Of Luck in 1996. This classic featured more of a standard pop-punk sound in the vein of Screeching Weasel or the Queers. The lyrics to their songs from this time period all dealt mostly with the usual pop-punk subjects: girls. They followed Shit Out Of Luck up with a couple of vinyl-only releases with a similar sound. By 1999, the band had grown tired of the limiting paint-by-numbers pop-punk sound and decided to go for something different for their next album. They recruited the services of producer Mass Giorgini and went into the studio to record their masterpiece, Death by Television. Their sound on this album became darker, faster, tighter, and louder, and the lyrical content changed to sci-fi and horror themes. I've heard their sound described as "the Misfits crossed with the Ramones" and I'd say that is pretty accurate. Death by Television was very well received in the punk community, Fat Mike from NOFX has been quoted as saying that record was "The best pop-punk album of all time." The Lillingtons followed this with one more album, 2001's The Back Channel Broadcast and then announced that they were breaking up. The band members moved on to other projects, singer Kody joining Teenage Bottlerocket (a great pop-punk band in their own right), and drummer Timmy V forming Stabbed in Back.

In 2005 the record label Red Scare re-released the band's back catalogue, and rumblings began that, just like all good monsters, the Lillingtons may not be dead quite yet. Then, to the delight of fans everywhere, these undead ghouls crept from their early graves and confirmed that, not only were they reforming, but they would be recording a new album entitled The Too Late Show. Now, just in time for All Hallows' Eve, The Too Late Show is here. So, how is it?

Well, if you are a fan of their last two albums, you shouldn't be disappointed. This one features the same tight playing, buzzsaw guitar sound, verse/chorus/verse song structure, and B-movie themed lyrics. The album begins with what I think is the weakest track on it, "Gunbullet." But it only gets better from there. Standouts include "All I Hear Is Static," "Mars vs. Hollywood," and "Stay Tuned."

I do not think that this is the Lillingtons' best album -- that honor would go to Death by Television. I do, however, like it better than Broadcast, as the sound of each song from it did not vary much, sounding almost like one long song. DBTV's songs varied more musically and lyrically, but still formed a cohesive whole together. The Too Late Show falls somewhere in between those too records -- not as monotonous as Broadcast yet not as varied as Death by Television.

I like the album very much, have been listening to it nonstop since I got it, but it is not without its flaws. Like I said, if you like the Lillingtons' back catalog you will like this too. However, if you are new to the band I would recommend starting with Death by Television. Now I only hope that these children of the night decide to stay together and provide us with more horror and sci-fi themed punk tunes for many years to come. L-I-L-L-ING-TONS!

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

Skawas (March 14, 2008)

pretty cool album!

brown (December 17, 2007)

my score is for the following:

Post Office
Factotum
Women
Ham On Rye

relix (December 11, 2006)

This record fucking rules hard.

FrankFF (November 2, 2006)

This record is insanely good, so much better than i expected and it blew me away at the first listen.
"Target Earth" and "The Augur's Tale" are my fav' tracks.

Loses half a star for the regrettably non-existant booklet content.

onegirlarmy (October 26, 2006)

Catchy as shit. Great pop punk record.

someone-yeah (October 26, 2006)

whoever gave 5 stars to wyoming has obviously never been here

Not-To-Regret (October 25, 2006)

Jones, thats hilarious, I hope that becomes a recurring gag, hint hint. Score's for that gag. Jones I have never had a negative thing to say about you.

jonathonfallow (October 25, 2006)

My review was like a billion times better than this one.

Anonymous (October 25, 2006)

Awesome. Hilarious.

why does everyone think the falcon is all that great?

i8yourzombie (October 25, 2006)

I love this fucking album. Great band. 'Nuff said.

JerryCola (October 24, 2006)

My favorite track on this is "The Augur's Tale"

It's crazy because the first time I listened to that song I thought I was back listening to Backchannel Broadcast for the very first time...

mikeinflames (October 24, 2006)

this album is great ... GGRRREEEAAAATTTT!

Damo (October 24, 2006)

"Posted by JayTee on 2006-10-24 03:52:41
My Score:

I seriously seriously need fucking rehab because I'm that addicted to "Mars Vs. Hollywood". It won't leave my head and I put it on twice in a row everytime.

This album rocks."

Damn right - Mars Vs Hollywood has to be the best song in the world at the moment

Damo (October 24, 2006)

fantastic album. Easily their best. While the songs sound similar they are at least not like Death By TV where almost every song is identical.

I love this album

Why did it take you so long to tell us about the album by the way? 2/3rds of the way is the 1st time you speak about it.

notfeelingcreative (October 24, 2006)

Score is for the reviewer's name, Bukowski was great.

Anonymous (October 24, 2006)

the bands on that show was crazy. tits lineup.

ReducerSF (October 24, 2006)

awesome album... right up there with DBT.

Anonymous (October 24, 2006)

score is for wyoming

Anonymous (October 24, 2006)

Um...yeah, that show was AMAZING! Every band was great. Seriously, what fucking show did the guy below see? Also, this album rocks.

Anonymous (October 24, 2006)

To all the haters: "All I hear is static when you talk!"

Anonymous (October 24, 2006)

i like posting comments about stuff I hate bc my opinion matters. thank you internet for making everyone more of a critic

waterpoo (October 24, 2006)

this band is sooooooo boring. what a bunch of losers.

Nick_V (October 24, 2006)

To all my friends!!!! Here, take this money! Get yourself some bubble gum! Now get trottin', my friends are thir-sty!!

Score is for the movie that quote is from and the Lillingtons.

Anonymous (October 24, 2006)

Wow, to the guy who said Red Scare Fest sucked, what fucking show did you see? Every band that played that night, save for the shitty opener that was the last minute replacement for Bullets To Broadway, sounded a thousand times better live than they did on any of their recordings.

JayTee (October 24, 2006)

Thats hysterical because my cousin said the EXACT polar opposite of what you just did about Red Scare.

Anonymous (October 24, 2006)

I went to Red Scare fest last week, and it fucking SUCKED!!!

The Copyrights, The Methadones, and Teenage Bottlerocket were all fucking terrible... especially TB. I really don't know how people like these bands. Same song sung 100 times.

Chris McCaughan's solo shit was pretty good, and The Falcon kind of sucked too. Actually, the only good thing about Falcon was Neil playing guitar and doing back-up vocals. He and Chris were the only good things about that show.

Waste of money and time.

Conclusion: Red Scare is fucking awful.

baseball (October 24, 2006)

Godfather is stoked

Anonymous (October 24, 2006)

someone review red scare fest!!!! dooooooooooo it!

Anonymous (October 24, 2006)

in response to the flamebait of:

"this band, with the "lets rip off the killingtons, da na na, na na na"

disgusts me to no end"

This IS the Lillingtons! The real deal, so put down your TBS and FOB albums and get with it.

you acknowledge its flamebait but still respond? wow....

Godfather (October 24, 2006)

perfect

Anonymous (October 24, 2006)

any time the Lillingtons put out anything they are 10/10. The cadillac of pop punk and they should know that. It's def a cross between beath by and back channel. cool stuff.

JayTee (October 24, 2006)

I seriously seriously need fucking rehab because I'm that addicted to "Mars Vs. Hollywood". It won't leave my head and I put it on twice in a row everytime.

This album rocks.

Cos (October 24, 2006)

This is the reason I miss print zines--limited space. If this were in print, it'd be something like this:

"Ramonescore, a la Weasel/Queers, except they sing about werewolves instead of high school and girls. Not as good as their last one, but the fans will dig it"

What more do you need to know?
--Cos

Anonymous (October 24, 2006)

Less history, more review.

Phantom_Maggot (October 24, 2006)

"The Too Late Show falls somewhere in between those too records -- not as monotonous as Broadcast yet not as varied as Death by Television."

Damn straight with the quote. This album is solid, but nothing spectacular. I also found it interesting that Kody really wrote none of the album.

SloaneDaley (October 24, 2006)

at first I didn't understand teh need for both The Lillingtons and Teenage Bottlerocket but with this I can see while in the same genre really are two very different bands.

Speaking of great pop-punk no one ever talks about Sweet Baby such a great band.

kenjamin (October 24, 2006)

nice username reviewer!

aahhhh (October 24, 2006)

who won the lawrence arms lyrics?

Anonymous (October 24, 2006)

fuck jonesthebones

danperrone (October 24, 2006)

every single song is identical...this shouldn't get more than a 6

seriously listen to the vocal part in tracks 1 and i think 6...goddamn

BrendanKelly (October 24, 2006)

this band is kinda good

theonetruebill (October 24, 2006)

Solid album through and through. When I want 24 minutes of awesomeness from now on I know to put this sucker on without a second though.

Anonymous (October 24, 2006)

I thought this was PUNKnews.

stevejonestherealbones (October 24, 2006)

this band, with the "lets rip off the killingtons, da na na, na na na"

disgusts me to no end.

first time i have been disgusted by a band in a really long time because of the songs they actually wrote

for some reason that song disgusts me as much as davey havok does

- jones the bones

- stevejones8770@yahoo.com

SloaneDaley (October 24, 2006)

where is The Lillingtons' review?