I was expecting some brilliant stuff from this record the way their fans always talked them up. The music is played well; the vocals are clear and all that. “Contraband” and “Drinking For 11” are pretty cool songs. But the rest of the CD was just irritating. I guess the problem with having horn players in the band is that you have to have horns on every fucking song. At some point I thought I was listening to a 1930’s vaudeville recording and Louie Armstrong and Mae West were going to be sampled in. I would think that being on NOFX’s label would clue this band into using horns with restraint (Hi, El Hefe!), but I guess they are taking their clues from 311 instead. Cute pictures of circus animals, though.
–koepenick (Fat)