Smogtown will forever be one of those bands I’ll have fond memories of. The best shows I went to at Al’s Bar were Smogtown shows. Especially when Ray was ripped and throwing bottles from the stage at the bartender one weekend night, at one point shouting to her, “You’ll never get laid wearing a hat like that!” Then they released Fuhrers of the New Wave, which is a perfect album and a definite classic of the era. Then they weren’t as active for a long while. Then this comes out. Must admit, it starts off shaky, but then picks up steam and reminds me why I was/am stoked on this band. Their sound is still intact—beach punk that sometimes skirts along hardcore lines (even the vocals). “Penchant for Screwing Up” is my favorite on here. But that’s not all. You get some other good tracks like “If We Have All the Guns...,” “Let’s String up the New Marketeers,” “Subdivision End Product” (nice guitar solo here!), and some more. “Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing” is very different from anything they’ve done before. It actually has more of an early L.A. punk sound, when bands would experiment with their sound, and throw the song in the middle of the album. Here, they throw in a saxophone, mess with the rhythm, and also toss in a piano. Hope they do some more stuff like this again. In fact, I hope they become more of an active band again.
–M.Avrg (Modern Action, vom.com/radio77/mar.htm)