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The underground boasts a
few bands that have made a name for themselves through some type of schtick
or another. The Make Up come to mind, and although Ian Svenonius
looks and sounds a bit like Prince, make no mistake about it, the Make
Up are their own "Gospel Yeh-Yeh." Unfortunately, the same cannot
be said of the Huntington's previous albums or their latest release Get
Lost. How do they make it? Their whole schtick is about
being a band that already exists (and still records for that matter).
Possibly the reason for
their album sales is because they pull it off so well. Any hardcore
Ramones fan could enter a room with a Huntingtons album playing in the
background and think it their rock gods themselves. The problem is,
once they found out the truth, they'd probably kick the stereo across the
room with the CD. No serious Ramones fan can take this seriously,
can they? But that is the only thing the Huntington's really have
going for them--they sound just like the Ramones.
The Huntingtons are playing
off the fact that the audience who largely buys their albums have never
heard the Ramones, and even if they had, that audience is largely limited
to what their local Christian bookstore carries because they are not willing
to buy a Ramones album. Admittedly, the Huntingdons are progressing as
a band, but that progression follows the course of the band they emulate.
Right now the Huntingtons have worked their way up to 1986, the year the
Ramones released Animal Boy. Get Lost falls somewhere
near "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" and never reaches the raw force of "Animal
Boy" or "Wart Hog."
With songs like "Annie's
Anorexic" and "Joanie's Got Problems," the Huningtons are trying to delve
a little further into the American teenage psyche than their medium allows.
The album opens well with "No Pool Party Tonite," but it doesn't take the
listener too long to realize that this release is falling short of the
raw tenacity that made High School Rock the best Huntingtons album
to date. Maybe it's the change in the lineup. Maybe it's the fact
that you can only keep a schtick like this going for so long before even
the hangers-on start to realize that you're a Ramones wanna-be.
If it's simple hooky pop-punk
you're after, this album may keep you entertained for a while. But as a
famous poet/king/philosopher once penned, there really is nothing new under
the sun. And Joey Ramone really does sound more like himself anyway.
Todd Ballard 4/27/2000
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