Seventh studio album by the band
Pennywise, released in
2001 on
Epitah Records. The cover/booklet
artwork is cool- it shows photographs of ranks of
Riot Police wearing
sinister-looking
gas masks and holding shields and batons and things and generally looking nasty. The inside back page of the booklet has photos of the
instruments the
bandmembers play with each of their names beside the appropriate
gear.
Tracklist:
- Time Marches On
- Land of the Free?
- The World
- Fuck Authority
- Something Wrong With Me
- Enemy
- My God
- Twist of Fate
- Who's On Your Side
- It's Up To You
- Set Me Free
- Divine Intervention
- WTO
- Anyone Listening
This album kicks ass. I haven't really heard any Pennywise other than this, so I can't say much about how it relates to their other work, but I have heard a lot of good things said about them in the press and by people I know. This CD certainly lives up to the hype.
Its a lot shorter and more direct than most of the music I listen to; 14 tracks and less than 40 minutes long. I guess thats pretty normal for punk music. Yeah- this is a punk album alright. Not 'Punk' in the sense that Offspring are punk (ie; they aren't), but then again, Pennywise aren't the Sex Pistols either. They write great songs. The guy can actually sing. But there's a shitload of 'message' in the lyrics as well- just take a look at some of the track titles. Sure, I don't agree with all of it, and they're not going to change the world overnight, but it does get me thinking.
All in all a great CD. If I had to pick a favourite track it'd probably be 'My God', but its a close call- every single song deserves its place, and there are some absolute beauties among them.
5/5
PS- its also fucking great driving music. (No speeding tickets... yet!)