Against Me!
(Fat Wreck Chords)
As this is functionally a reissue of 2004's As The Eternal Cowboy, minus single "Sink, Florida, Sink," the newly-issued collection of Cowboy demos, The Original Cowboy, is hard to recommend unequivocally. Anyone already familiar with the 2004 offering will likely find little in the slightly rougher sounding, alternately sequenced Original to justify a second purchase. But chances are, that wasn't really the point anyway.
Given the success of 2008's supremely overrated New Wave - which Spin crowned album of the year - the band is ripe for reissues. And that's almost exactly what this is.
And, in fairness, that's not necessarily a bad thing. By re-sequencing the original, cutting "Sink, Florida, Sink" and issued the (surprisingly complete-sounding) demos, this is, technically, a new listening experience. But as Against Me!'s mainstream exposure increases, the inevitable hordes of new fans unfamiliar with the band's excellent (and in some circles legendary) back catalog are primed for an introduction. And Cowboy - whether As The Eternal, or The Original - is as good a place to start as any. It offers the folky rollick that made the band its name, without sounding as unhinged and unpolished as the cult-classic Reinventing Axl Rose.
And for many, As The Eternal Cowboy - the Gainesville, Fla., band's first release for Fat Wreck Chords - was already something of breakthrough, pushing the band from underground buzz to Warped Tour headliner.
And musically, it's little wonder why. Against Me!'s releases have sounded increasingly hi-fi with each subsequent album. And even as the Butch Vig-produced New Wave's compressed modern rock tendencies were, in the eyes of this critic, a major blow to the band's ragged charm, Tom Gabel's songwriting remained as sharp and impassioned as it has been since the band's humble beginnings.
And here, Against Me! is at its most inviting. Giant shout-alongs and deadly hooks come on the backs of Gabel's impassioned singing and the band's electric roar. At this mid-point in its career, the band had mastered its Billy Bragg/(Young) Pioneers folk-punk, successfully melding smart, vibrant lyrics with the insistence of heavily-strummed chords and using the electric buzz as a launch pad for the vamped-up choruses that would shoot Against Me! to the majors.
This might have been Against Me!'s finest moment - raw, urgent and infectiously catchy.
Musically, whether it's the original LP, or this de facto reissue, this album is necessary for any Against Me! fan. Ultimately, though, this specific version might not be. The Original Cowboy is an altogether unnecessary release, but it's also an entirely warranted frivolity, given the band's ascendant profile in the rock press, and the opportunity for this disc to introduce the band's newer fans to the good stuff they've been missing.
Standout Tracks: "Slurring the Rhythms," "A Brief Yet Triumphant Introduction/Cliché Guevara" BRYAN REED
