Labels: No Idea Records
Review by: Andy Malcolm
This album has good moments. The good moments are when the band plays hard and fast, and breaks stuff. This album has bad moments. The bad moments are when they play really slowly and for ages. I get bored at this point. I would say the album is about 80-20 on the good / bad ratio. The helter-skelter punk of “Paradise by the Fluorescent Lights” is a perfect example of the band on form “” blitzkrieg, Radon style sloppiness with uber-gruff vocals. I am a bit perturbed by the huge number of gruff punk bands out there right now, what is wrong with singing? But hey, I guess we do need 1000 7″ a year that are all kind of similar after all, or Littletype and No Idea would go out of business. The Tim Version go a bit further than just being gruff mind you, they throw in the whole hoarse throated “MAN I DRINK WHISKEY” type thing. Whether they do or not, I have no idea, nor do I care. If they really drank whiskey they would sound like Rex Hobart though, I know that much. Anyways, it’s good to hear a new band sound a bit like Radon, and not so much like all the other gruff punk bands out there. The opening track “Shin Splints” is a particular stand out in this style.
The band slip up on boring tracks such as “Too Many Saturday Nights”. The slow paced tosh is just offensive to my ears. Gruff punk bands should know better. If you’re going to slow it down, emo it up, like Blacktop Cadence. The country tedium of final track, “League Minimum” also tires me. Luckily it’s the last track, and the last track is always easily avoidable.
Anyways, this is a really solid LP of the gruff. Despite the fact that if you enjoy the gruff you already own 435 7″ that are all kind of similar, and a couple of LPs, I would suggest you pick this one up as well, as the Tim Version play it better than 417 of those bands you have on the singles.