The Queers
"Beat Off" CD (Lookout!)
If this sounds like Screeching Weasel to you, there are three good reasons. Dan Vapid and Danny Panic play on this album, Ben Weasel produced it and it's on Lookout. Those are fairly superficial similarities, but the music also resembles Screeching Weasel. It's speedy punk rock with sneering vocals and a heavy dose of snotty pop to it. It clocks in at just under 25 minutes, but two of the songs actually hit the three minute mark. On the whole, it's fun, fast and stupid and well worth spending two more hours at work to afford it.
"A Day Late And A Dollar Short" CD (Lookout!)
You know, these songs probably sounded a hell of a lot better in their original vinyl form. On CD, they sound tinny, like someone recorded them with a microphone hidden inside a Coke can, and the only way to make them sound better is by playing around with the output levels on the stereo. With that said, this does include some punk classics, like "This Place Sucks," later covered by the New Bomb Turks, as well as some songs like "Wimpy Drives Through Harlem" which hint at the more melodic direction this band would take with later records. Only essential for fans, collectors and completists.
"Don't Back Down" CD (Lookout!)
More Ramones-styled punk, but unlike the Groovie Ghoulies, this is hella cool. It has more to do with 60's pop, specifically the Beach Boys, than punk, but the effect is happy, light-hearted punk which really doesn't want to change the world. The primary significance of this record is that it's FUN. It doesn't glower, cop an attitude or try to exclude anyone who isn't hard enough or committed enough. At its most fundamental level, it's a pop album and a great one.