Labels: Bombed Out Records
Review by: Mike Whelan
I like Joe Ninety. A while ago I was trying to order their “Lifetime of Empty Threats’ album and they sent me a copy as soon as I e-mailed them, without even waiting for me to send them a cheque. What nice chaps.
I never liked Joe 90 though (note the subtle difference), a completely different kettle of fish that one, he was a bit soft, certainly not like the indestructible Captain Scarlet or those other do-gooders, the Thundercats, ahem, the Thunderbirds.
This six-track EP picks up from where the album left off, top-notch pop-punkiness which reminds me of Dugong and Eighty-Six (I’m actually being a bit lazy with my comparisons there, as all these bands are on the same label). The sound is pretty similar to their album and while they’ve kept to the same formula, the quality is better all round, cleaner and more polished than past efforts.
The EP opens with its two strongest songs, the chest-thumping “Postcards from the Breach’ and the toe-tapping “A Word of Warning.’ Other tracks like “Last Time I Was Happy’ (which was originally a Dugong song, apparently) and “Small Surrenders’ are also really good; melodic, upbeat punk, which isn’t usually the sort of thing I’d listen to, but which Joe Ninety make sound appealing. “Dark Days and Dogfights’ is the last track, a nice acoustic closer with strained vocals and, in contrast to the other tracks, darker lyrics.
Six tracks, six good songs. This should appeal to any fans of pop-punky stuff, there’s even a quote from the “Tibetan Book of Living and Dying’ inside the case which should appeal to any academics. I couldn’t see Joe 90 or Captain Scarlet listening to this in their space ships, or whatever they had, but lets face it, they’re dubious role models.