Less Than Jake's debut may sound generic almost 10 years later, but let's put this in perspective. Before this album, the only popular ska-punk act was the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. But after hearing this CD, hundreds of kids all across North America ran out to start ska bands with their friends, hence forming the ska explosion of the 90's. The whole ska thing may seem a little trendy in retrospect, but let's face it - the current emo craze will seem the exact same way to the next wave of punk kids. This CD is poppy ska at its near-best. The songs are short, fast, and catchy - you'll be hard-pressed to find one over two minutes. Plus, in true 90's punk fashion, there are 19 tracks on one CD.
You can skank to every random "woah" chant and horn blast that comes up. "Liquor Store" and "Johnny Quest (Thinks We're Sellouts)," "Growing Up On A Couch," and "One Last Cigarette" are the cream of the crop. But this is a really great and consistant CD. Nothing drags; you want to listen to it again and again and again... This is the epitome of catchy 90's ska-punk. Screw those other bands that went under or broke up and formed emo bands - this is the only one you need. Even with the underproduction and retrospective generic feel, it's still great.
Although Less Than Jake's choice of cover tracks might get them mistaken for a joke band, their lyrical style has actually considerably improved since their last album, and this came out the same year! "Pez King," "Econolodged," "Time and a Half," and "St. James Hotel" are the best tracks. The annoying intro on "Soundman" is really the only drawback from the CD. This is an improvement over their last album, mostly because Less Than Jake is writing their songs closer to ska than pop-punk - the style I definitely prefer for them.
Less Than Jake started to get noticed in the mainstream with the release of Losing Streak. It's the one the old-school Less Than Jake fans fondly reminisce on, even though they're only in university or something. Anyway, the production's really cleaned up. The horns are turned way up in the mix, but the bounce-bounce ska guitar sound (Shut up! I know nothing about instruments, you know what I mean!) is still there to bob your head to, or whatever else you do when you listen to ska. Don't answer that.
The redone version of "Johnny Quest (Thinks We're Sellouts)" is far better than the original, plus "Sugar In Your Gas Tank," "Dopeman," "Ask the Magic 8 Ball," and "Rock-n-Roll Pizzeria" (what a great name for a song) are some of Less Than Jake's best fare to date. Their song-writing and instrumental work continues to improve noticably. This is one of Less Than Jake's best, and deserves to be the record everyone remembers as being great. I just wish they would cut some of those lame intros, like the one on "Never Going Back To New Jersey." I mean, c'mon, it's only funny the first time, guys. But that's only a small point. The CD is great, and one you have to own.
On this EP, Less Than Jake cover all the songs from the movie "Grease." My main complaint is, why no horns?! I mean, it would be pretty cool if they were a pop-punk band, but they aren't. Anyway, aside from that, they actually do a pretty good job. It's hilarious to hear vocalist Chris (no one knows their last names...) singing "You better shape up 'cause I need a man, and my heart is set on you!," or even better, when he blurts out "Changity chang ka bop...what the hell is that?!"
They do a hilarious cover of "Beauty School Dropout," but the main problem is, there's only so many times you can listen to this thing before the joke wears off. I mean, when I want to listen to Less Than Jake, I'll listen to their original songs, not an entire CD of covers. Anyway, it's apparantly been banned for violating copyright or something, so you might want to pick it up solely so you can say you have a rare release. But don't pay too much.
This is the CD that introduced most people to Less Than Jake. It's the first one I ever owned, so maybe the reason I rank it the highest out of the "classic three" (Pezcore, Losing Streak, and Hello Rockview) is because it's the one I've listened to the most thouroughly. Either way, this CD is what Less Than Jake is all about to me. The production is great - you can hear the entire horn section, but the guitars and vocals are also clear. It's a good thing they're using their giant major label budget to its full advantage. What you notice best about this CD is how smoothly it changes from track to track - there's no noticeable filler, and it just seems to flow very well. Hello Rockview sticks out in your mind for a really long time.
"All My Best Friends are Metalheads" is probably the classic Less Than Jake track that everyone thinks of when they are reminded of the band. "Richard Allen George...No, It's Just Cheese," a song about one of the band's friends, and "Danny Says" (which I honestly thought was going to be a Ramones cover) are the other catchy stand-out tracks on the album. This is a solid album, and will always be Less Than Jake's best in my eyes. It's a combination of all the best parts of the 90's ska wave and Less Than Jake's desire to move on and experiment with their music. In my opinion, this is the CD you should pick up if you want an introduction to the band.
The only real complaint I have with this album is that there isn't really a stand-out track. You know, a song you immediately associate with the album and want to hear everytime you put it on. I mean, the album's solidly good - it doesn't drag, and there's never a moment where it becomes repetitive or bland. However, once you finish listening to it, that's it. It doesn't really stick with you the way their other albums did. As a result, I don't really listen to Borders and Boundaries much, even though it isn't that bad. If you like pop-punk a bit more than ska, you'd probably like it a lot.
This is a collection of Less Than Jake's b-sides and other tracks that were basically impossible to come by beforehand. There's nothing previously unreleased on this CD; it was all available, but usually on soundtracks or on vinyl only. I completely support bands giving us an opporunity to listen to their rarer tracks without having to sell our souls for it, or stumble around on Kazaa trying to figure out what's actually by them and what's a mislabeled MP3 by some useless pop-punk garage band. However, most of the tracks on this album really aren't that interesting.
The last couple of tracks on the album are just boring jingles, like an ad for Los Angeles radio station KROQ. A whole bunch are just alternate versions (as a rule of thumb, this means crappier versions) of their more popular songs. The rest are either cover songs or 40 second ska blasts. The only really worthwhile song is "Losing Streak," which for some reason, didn't actually make it onto the album Losing Streak. Other than that, this album is really only for an obsessive fan.
Okay kids, let's review. Throughout Less Than Jake's career, two huge trends have revamped the mainstream punk scene: third-wave ska and pop-punk. Less Than Jake was one of the first bands involved in the third-wave ska explosion, and that's what got them signed to Capitol Records. Now, ska has been largely forgotten; replaced with emo. But pop-punk is still just as popular, if not more so. Unfortunately, Less Than Jake seems ready to ride the pop-punk band wagon all the way to the bank. Hardly any horns show up throughout this entire album, except for the occasional blast around the chorus.
The focus is on pop-punk-esque guitar work and Chris' vocals, as seen in the first single, "She's Gonna Break Soon." That song makes for an okay pop-punk song, but compared to the rest of Less Than Jake's work, is subpar. It's too bad that Less Than Jake follows that theme for the rest of the album. There are some good moments that shine through now and then, like the reggae-tinted "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" or the awesome "Plastic Cup Politics," but overall, this CD is pretty weak when compared to some of Less Than Jake's other stuff. I mean, it's better than most pop-punk, but Less Than Jake isn't a pop-punk band. They need to get back to their roots instead of trying to gain MTV fans who will abandon them whenever the next trend pops up.
This is a collection of all of Less Than Jake's unreleased recorded material from the Anthem sessions. I was very reluctant to purchase material considered too crappy to go on what was already the crappiest album of Less Than Jake's career. However, one listen convinced me that this is what Anthem should have been, and leaving these tracks off was obviously some attempt by major label Warner to turn the band into the next pop-punk sensation. The ska sound is back, (hallejulah!) even if the horns are still uncomfortably low in the mix.
I don't understand why they left the song "National Anthem," off of an album called Anthem, but it should have been on there to spice up the original album. Furthermore, tracks like "Goodbye in Gasoline" and "Bridge and Tunnel Authority" are grittier and less sugary sweet than some of the useless filler that made its way onto Anthem. Despite the eeeevils of major labels still having their black hand in this, the album (albeit being a little short at 28 minutes) is everything Anthem wasn't. Whew! They've still got it!