The Gold Record
The Bouncing Souls’ seventh record starts out fast and furious with the driving punk tune “The Gold Song,” either quoting the Robert Frost poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” or – given the Souls love for ‘80s movies – The Outsiders (“Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold”).
By the second track, the boys from New Jersey get back to their usual sing-along choruses and songs about loving what they do and where they’re from. They do break out of the mold a bit, busting out an acoustic guitar and accordion for “The Pizza Song,” a la Green Day’s “Warning.” It’s not really a great song, but an admirable effort nonetheless.
The most emotional moments come during “Letters from Iraq,” with lyrics taken directly from letters soldiers have sent the band while serving in the war. “All that's left of Bullet Billy is a pair of bloody boots/ His mom is on the phone/ His girl is all alone/ We all stand in the rain/ for a twenty-one gun salute.”
Though the album stumbles in places, i.e. the infectiously annoying “Sarah Saturday,” it’s a pretty good record overall with standout tracks including “Lean on Sheena,” “Midnight Mile” and “For All the Unheard.”
For whatever reason, it seems to take a new Bouncing Souls album for me to get into the previous release, so I’ll be spending the next few weeks revisiting 2003’s Anchors Aweigh.
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