Take Action! is a fund-raising compilation series from Hopeless Recordsā€™ charity-focused imprint Sub City, with 5% of the recommended retail price going to a good cause ā€“ in the case of this seventh volume, the non-profit organisation Do Something (DoSomething.org). The bands contributing previously released album tracks to this two-disc set run the wide gamut of alternative acts currently popular with the kids.

Disc one (an audio CD) features 19 songs ranging from power-pop (Cute Is What We Aim For) through pop-punk (All Time Low), rock (Mayday Parade), emo (Silverstein), and post-hardcore (Chiodos) to Christian metalcore (Haste The Day), plus a Public Service Announcement from Andy Williams of Southern metallers Every Time I Die. Disc two is a DVD containing music videos for 20 songs, only two of which are also to be found on the audio CD (including the amusing ā€™80s horror movie pastiche clip for Every Time I Dieā€™s Weā€™re Wolf). A similar range of styles is covered, including mainstream rock in the form of Plain White Tā€™s and The All-American Rejects, geek pop from Hellogoodbye, and pop-punk stalwarts MxPx, although the back half of the disc has a heavier slant than the CD, with bands like The Red Chord, High On Fire and Suicide Silence dominating.

Volume 7 might be seen as a step down from the mammoth three-disc set that Volume 6 offered, but itā€™s still a decent value-for-money sampler of some quality acts, and given the charity aspect itā€™s pretty hard to complain.

Owen Heitmann

Itā€™s not too big a surprise that for his first solo album, Tim Armstrong (of ā€™77-style punks Rancid, as well as The Transplants) has delivered a bluebeat-inspired ska record. Ska has frequently been a feature of his main outfit, and was even more integral to his first influential band, Operation Ivy.

However, the commercial sound of first single Into Action ā€“ a disposable slice of pop-reggae featuring Avril Lavigne-alike poppet Skye Sweetnam ā€“ is a shock (even given that Armstrong has bemused his hardcore fans in the past with actions such as co-writing songs for P!nk), although its flavour isnā€™t characteristic of the album, which predominantly has a more two-tone retro sound.

I was more taken aback by the realisation that Armstrong just canā€™t sing any more. Throughout the album, his slurred vocals sound like theyā€™ve been delivered underwater with a mouthful of marbles. When, on Oh No, he sings ā€?I love rock ā€?nā€™ rollā€¯, it sounds more like, ā€?Arrrghhhgorra buh bhuh do arrrrggghhhhnnnnā€¯.

Lyrics also find him retreading old ground with diminishing returns. Into Actionā€™s first two verses are basically a rewrite of Roots Radicals (from Rancidā€™s …And Out Come The Wolves album), while Among The Dead looks back at the breakup of Op Ivy in the same way that Journey To The End Of The East Bay (ditto) did ā€“ but whereas the latter song was a heartfelt tribute, the new one almost comes off as a plug for the remastered reissue of Op Ivyā€™s studio output.

That said, I donā€™t think Armstrong is capable of writing a bad tune, and his seven-piece backing band The Aggrolites are tight indeed. Laid-back and catchy songs like Wake Up and Hold On will get stuck in your head for days, Inner City Violence adds a darker shade to the albumā€™s palette and thereā€™s even an instrumental (Cold Blooded) to close the record. But itā€™s still far from the type of classic album heā€™s produced with various groups in the past.

A Poetā€™s Life also comes with a bonus DVD of B&W film clips for each of the ten tracks on the album.

Owen Heitmann

In 2005, under the moniker City And Colour, Dallas Green (guitarist/co-vocalist for post-hardcore unit Alexisonfire) released his debut solo album Sometimes, showcasing his softer side. The album had two really good cuts ā€“ Save Your Scissors and Cominā€™ Home ā€“ and eight others best described as Dashboard Confessional-lite.

The release Live captures a complete City And Colour set from March 2006. In acknowledgement of Greenā€™s strongest material, the CD also includes bonus alternate versions of the two above-mentioned tracks recorded in June that year.
Given that thereā€™s not a lot of difference between City And Colour in the studio and performing live (both are basically just Dallas Greenā€™s voice and his guitar, although his cousin Nick Osczypko does join him on keys on a few songs, and snare drum on Save Your Scissors) and that Green only has one album of material to draw on, I guess the biggest selling point for this release is the inclusion of three previously unreleased songs: short set opener Forgive Me, tortured Confessions (the strongest new cut) and Sensible Heart ā€“ plus a piano-based cover of Alexisonfireā€™s Happiness By The Kilowatt.

Thereā€™s also an accompanying DVD of video footage of the same gig notable primarily for the between song banter (and guitar tuning) excised from the audio CD, and for the ability to see Dallasā€™ expressive eyebrows. The DVD bonus features are a few tracks filmed at Malkin Bowl on an unspecified date that are more creatively shot but have quieter vocals, bootleg-quality footage of Dallas joining Ron Sexsmith and his band at Halifax Club for Sexsmithā€™s song Wastinā€™ Time, and a weird segment involving Green wandering through a shopping centre while playing guitar solos through a portable amp.

Owen Heitmann

Seattle straightedge hardcore band Champion called it a day in 2006, having released one album, two EPs and a split CD since forming in 1999. They secured a final addition to their discography, however, by recording their last live performance (a show in their hometown) to be released as this CD/DVD package.

While most live albums are only for existing fans, this album is particularly so, given that it confuses newcomers by not including a proper tracklisting, but rather a photo of a setlist using abbreviations (such as PK for Promises Kept) instead of the full song titles.

Said fans will lap this up, though, as the band are in fine form ā€“ the breakneck guitars are meaty and the drums pummelling. However, frontman Jim Heskethā€™s vocals are often lost as heā€™s swamped by the crowd, or kicked in the eye, or breathless from the energetic performance required of a hardcore show.

This latter aspect is only a concern when listening to the audio CD ā€“ when watching the DVD of the show (which, oddly enough, includes a few live cuts that arenā€™t on the CD, as well as featuring interviews with band and audience members, plus early footage), these lapses are easily excusable as the cameras put you right in the thick of the action, with stage dives, sweaty hardcore kids, and a guy dressed in a cardboard robot costume.

One caveat is that, while I do admire some aspects of the straightedge lifestyle, when the CD runs for only just over half an hour, devoting several minutes to preaching (to the converted) on multiple occasions about the evils of alcohol amounts to a significant percentage of the stage time lost ā€“ not to mention that it detracts from repeated listening to a fairly impressive gig.

That aside, this release stands as a good monument to the band.

Owen Heitmann

Released a few months prior to Lies For The Liars, The Usedā€™s third studio album, Berth proves ā€“ if nothing else ā€“ that the emo-rock outfit are good at creating plenty of product from relatively sparse musical output. This is their second CD/DVD stopgap release (together with 2003ā€™s rarities collection Maybe Memories) after only two proper albums, which is a ratio few bands would dare aspire to.

The CD alone certainly doesnā€™t make for a worthwhile purchase, featuring a mere nine live tracks (the majority drawn from second album In Love And Death) that, while energetic, are for the most part very close replications of the studio recordings (with the exception of the uncredited interpolation of Refusedā€™s New Noise into final encore Maybe Memories), to the extent of including the strings and samples of some songs via DAT tape. The fade ins/outs between several tracks also ruin the feel of a live concert.

The DVD, on the other hand, is a strong selling point. Divided into three sections, it begins with Berth, a documentary looking at the band on tour and in the studio which reveals frontman Bert McCracken to be less an emo tragic and more like a long-haired and skinny Jack Black, and bandmates Quinn Allman and Jeph Howard to be equally boisterous. Itā€™s more compelling than many such docos available on DVD without extras. But this one also comes with the bandā€™s complete live Vancouver concert of September 25, 2005, filed under Rock. This is the same gig documented on the audio CD, and it becomes clear that the fades were made to remove stage banter and pauses between songs, which is understandable, although Iā€™d prefer less obvious edits. Two songs from the set (and the intro featuring Street Drum Corps) also failed to make it to the CD. And like Berth, Rock fails to credit former drummer Branden Steineckert, who departed in 2006.
Finally, Junk contains three music videos and a patchy Q&A session that suits the section title.

One for hardcore fans, but the 2Ā½ hour DVD ensures theyā€™ll get their moneyā€™s worth.

Owen Heitmann

Remains is a killer release from Alkaline Trio ā€“ and itā€™s not even an album per se, but rather a collection of 22 of their 7ā€¯ singles, contributions to compilations, b-sides, cover songs, tracks originally found on split releases, and live versions.

As such, it includes the three songs from their split with Hot Water Music that constituted my first exposure to the ā€™Trio, one of which (the atmospheric While Youā€™re Waiting) remains possibly my favourite of their songs. But several other tracks here have now been added to the shortlist vying for that title, in particular opening punk rocker Hell Yes and the agitated Jaked On Green Beers, a savage evisceration of a former friend.

The songs on offer cover nearly the entire career of the band, and their chronological order documents not only a change in drummers but also the groupā€™s evolution from the morbid gothic punk of Dead End Road et al to the less urgent but still gloom-infused melodic rock of their later material.

While I favour the first half of the album, the second half does have some interesting experiments such as the string section of Sadie, the atypical shimmering sounds of Donā€™t Say You Wonā€™t (which evokes The Cure) and the gradually increasing tempo of Buried.

The covers consist of songs originally by Berlin, Hot Water Music and The Damned (a most appropriate choice), and the three live songs include an acoustic version of My Standard Break From Life.

The CD also comes packaged with a DVD, the best part of which is the music videos for five previous singles. The other bonus features also prove marginally better than the main feature documentary, in which the live performances look great but sound sub-par. But while the DVD may not be essential, the elaborate packaging (with liner notes from the band for each track) definitely is.

Owen Heitmann

Released in advance of their Good Morning Revival album, Marvin Scott Jarrettā€™s rockumentary Fast Future Generation follows the four boys of Good Charlotte (they were between permanent drummers again at the time of filming) on their 2005 tour of Japan during the final legs of promotion for The Chronicles Of Life And Death, and basically offers nothing new for anyone whoā€™s ever seen ā€?behind-the-scenesā€™ footage of a band on tour. Good Charlotte could be any other successful group as they travel between gigs, engage in inarticulate interviews, psyche themselves up before shows, and try to keep themselves amused during the time theyā€™re not performing. The profiles on each member attempt to make them interesting (succeeding most with ā€?Billy the artistā€¯) but watching the Madden brothers get free clothing and jewellery and then rag on the celebrity lifestyle (as well as ranting about the media and Eddie Vedder) wears thin. To make things worse, only snippets of live performances are included ā€“ no complete songs. **

DVD: There are no extras, but the footage looks great and sounds fine, except for the intermittent muting of parts of conversations, presumably to censor profanity. **

Owen Heitmann

This collection of 13 music videos by influential Irish folk-rockers The Pogues would seem to be nothing more than an old VHS release slapped on DVD, but despite its basic nature it’s hard to be displeased when you get clips for the likes of If I Should Fall From Grace With God (live concert footage for the groupā€™s archetypal song), A Pair Of Brown Eyes (equal parts Thatcherian political overtones and surrealism), Jackā€™s Heroes (a mainly B&W clip for this collaboration with The Dubliners), a medley of Cole Porterā€™s Miss Otis Regrets/Just One Of Those Things (set up like a theatre performance, with guest Kirsty MacColl dueting with haggard frontman Shane MacGowan), Dirty Old Town (a straightforward clip that showcases MacGowanā€™s terrible teeth), Summer In Siam (an ornate, saturated set-piece featuring a clash of Irish and Asian cultures), Fairytale Of New York (B&W, also guesting MacColl) and Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah (a ā€™60s Top Of The Pops pastiche appropriate for the songā€™s classic pop-rock beat) among others. ***

DVD: Bog-standard transfers and no extras. *

Owen Heitmann

Frenzal Rhombā€™s seventh album finds the Sydney punk band returning to their roots with 20 tracks that sound closely related to their early Dick Sandwich and Coughing Up A Storm releases (despite the fact that singer Jay Whalley is the only member remaining in the lineup from those days). All the songs are under three minutes long and avoid the slower material that the band has dabbled with in recent times.

The album is characterised by breakneck tempos and abrasive songs that are almost indistinguishable from each other musically, with Jayā€™s rabid vocals spewed over the top. The general similarity of much of the material isnā€™t helped by the surprisingly murky mix, but although it all sounds much the same at first, after a few listens individual cuts do begin to stand out. The bandā€™s legions of teenage fans will no doubt latch onto Fuck You And Your Stupid Band and Johnny Ramone Was In A Fucken Good Band But He Was A C**t (Gabba Gabba You Suck) as early favourites (despite the fact that, at under thirty seconds long, the latter is over in almost less time than it takes to type) thanks to their typical profanity, but less explicit tracks such as the initially intricately melodic When Will I See You At The ICU and the Youth Group / AC/DC-baiting title track are possibly more interesting.

The lyrics range from the nonsensical attacks on the caps lock key and predictive text of Caps Lock and Predickle Me This (respectively) to the clever commentary on the Americanisation of Australian English of Holiday Not Vacation, but there are always plenty of the jokes and insults weā€™ve come to expect.

The thrashy anger-fest of Please Go Over There (featuring Jayā€™s girl friend Lauren on co-vocals) is the the most ferocious moment on an album thatā€™s full of them, while the Schapelle Corby-referencing You Need A Friend has a surprisingly melodic chorus.

However, the album lacks the instant hooks that were found on Meet The Family and A Manā€™s Not A Camel, and its unrelenting nature will likely terrify anyone who remembers the band solely from their commercial peak with the single You Are Not My Friend. Regardless, it has naturally been embraced by long-term fans, who will also get the most out of the bonus DVD featuring lowbrow backstage hi jinx and dodgy-sounding footage from various live shows.

Owen Heitmann

This DVD captures reformed original garage rockers The Stooges in action in Europe in 2005, tearing through material from the first two Stooges album from the late ā€?60s/early ā€?70s, plus Skull Ring and Dead Rock Star from frontman Iggy Popā€™s most recent solo album. The 14-song setlist includes an explosive T.V. Eye, the slower bluesy swagger of Dirt, the jazzier Funhouse (featuring saxophone, as does a third of the set) and two versions (!) of I Wanna Be Your Dog. A mix of crisp B&W and grainy colour footage captures portly guitarist Ron Asheton riffing with deadly precision, his baseball cap-wearing brother Ron providing the primal backbeat on the drums, wildly grinning Mike Watt (filling in for the late Dave Alexander) clearly having the time of his life on bass and Iggy prowling the stage, showing off his always shirtless rippled torso, grizzled face and plumberā€™s crack, and even inviting members of the audience on stage during Real Cool Time. ***1/2

DVD: An occasional delay effect on the video has the annoying result of distancing you from the concert rather than immersing you in it, but the audio sounds crisp and great. The bonus feature is a 24 page booklet that includes a Ron Asheton interview and an extensive, Australia-centric essay on the impact of The Stooges. ***

Owen Heitmann