Mama told me, yes, she told me I’d meet boys like you…
… she didn’t really but it sounds good here. Oh, boy…. Let’s take a breather, wallow a little in the glorious respite this album brings. Strip it back and you still have the biggest bag of moxie thrown in your face.
Armed with three tubes of Smarties, I’m going in!
This is a fantastic little compilation of songs taken from “American Spring” and “American Fall” and a few covers, just reworked for both old and new ears.
“Where you draw the line will set you free” is the salient idea from “The Debate Is Over (If You Want It). Track two offers the Rancid inspired “Trouble Follows Me” that exudes a purity, an honesty that is prevalent in the punk genre.
“American Attraction” is next in line, don’t be fooled by the word “acoustic” for the band have not stopped sharpening their knives, each note, each lyric, will run you through.
“I got that gun, got that drug, I got everything you want. Got that bomb, got that blood, I got everything you’re not, it’s the American attraction”.
“When The Walls Fall” talks of “The rich will do it all for you but help you off the floor.” The definitive kick to the crotch, hang onto to your nether regions when these boys are in town.
If he is Justin Sane – then I’m completely insane. Oh, Anti-Flag what have you done? This is not just an American Reckoning, it is a global- indeed a galactical- reckoning and Anti-Flag will sit as judge, jury and executioner. I don’t want to be around when they dispense their punishment, nay justice, and when we are held to account and have to accept the penalties meted out.
With “Racists” we have a “bigot with a check list” who doesn’t want “a mosque built on their street”. The vocals command and demand our attention,
Its easy to say you like this band, or that band: I’ve liked these gentlemen for a long time, but now I really know why. Let us be thankful for Anti-Flag, let us keep on fighting the good fight alongside them.
An anthem of self- destruction is in the mix here with “Set Yourself On Fire”, painful to hear but an essential tool in gaining life experience. Me? Well I’m a pile of cinder; heed my warning friends, don’t set fire to yourself to keep other people warm.
“Brandenburg Gate” contains the spine-tingling chant of a chorus, touching, and unnerving as it is set against the backdrop of a time in history.
“She was caught up in the glimmer of a rich man’s eye, I couldn’t see her from the other side.”
The last three tracks are covers, all chosen carefully and considerately, first is “Gimme Some Truth” by John Lennon. It is incredible how a song that was written so long ago can still resonate and impact our lives so heavily today.
“All I want is the truth, just gimme some truth”
Buffalo Springfield (related to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young) provide “For What It’s Worth” with the canny line
“Young people speaking their minds, getting so much resistance from behind”.
You begin to wonder if we have actually evolved and progressed from our cave-dwelling ancestors.
Finishing with the Cheap Trick classic “Surrender” this is a perfect ending to a perfect album.
The music was already there, the uniqueness of the delivery is unsurpassed.
Excuse me while I crumble into my duvet and cry my eyes out.
Azra Pathan
Anti-Flag – American Reckoning out now on Spinefarm Records