Labels: No Idea Records
Review by: Russell Opie
Ooooh – the new Fay Wray album. Cool. Thanks ever so muchly to a certain Monk Dave for sending me this. You rock. Thanks man! This album release was one of the ones I was really looking forward to in 2000. It was up there in the anticipation stakes along with Alkaline Trio, Samiam and Leatherface. And I’m glad to say that it doesn’t disappoint.
This strikes me as being a bit slower than the bands self-titled debut, which really was a bit of a punk rock classic. But since then, the band have matured their sound quite a bit, moving in more of a melodic-punk-rock direction rather than their previous straight-ahead aggressive pop-punk sound. They still have songs about girls, lost love and bad life experiences. It really hits me that this album is coming from a personal angle and I like that a lot. And of course, those awesome vocals are still there.
Standout songs include “Jenny” which is self-confessed “power pop dribble” according to lead vocalist and song writer Jeff London. For it is indeed the most infectiously sugar-coated pop song Fay Wray have ever written! And I love it. Other knock outs include opening track “Bi” and the anthemic “Have and Hold”, which totally blew me away. If your into the whole No Idea punk rock sound then this will go down a treat indeed. Very impressive follow up album from the Fay Wray boys. In fact, this is pretty much faultless!