I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of The High School Reunion, the latest release by the Dutch surf-pop-punkers, the Travoltas. I was a bit nervous when it arrived in the mail because all of my favorite artists have done nothing but let me down lately. Click here for a list of disappointing albums.
On first listen, all of my worst fears came true. It seemed devoid of the catchy hooks that make the Travoltas so good. Being a huge fan, I refrained from writing anything until I gave it a few more listens. I am glad that I did.
If you are unfamiliar with the Travoltas, let me try to explain their sound—it’s the punk version of the Beach Boys, sung in English by native Dutch speakers, mixed with some ‘80s electronic pop.
High School Reunion is a nostalgic album about what happened in high school and what’s happened since. The title track is about how all of the glory days of high school—quarterbacks and cheerleading captains—all fade away [The irony is that the Travoltas come from a country where neither quarterbacks nor cheerleaders exist].
This album is much more keyboard-driven than their previous records. The techno beats on “(All We Want is) Rock ‘n Roll” are very cool, but on other tracks the keyboards seem incredibly cheesy i.e. the incredibly pointless instrumental ditty “At the Arcade.”
There is also a cover of Peter Schilling’s 80s hit “Major Tom.” I was a bit confused why a Dutch group would cover an English song, but sing it in German. I guess I’m not up on my 80s trivia; I did a little research and found that the song was originally released in German. This is a fitting cover for the Travoltas, but it still seems to be a strange choice to do it German, when the rest of their material is in English.
THE SKINNY: Not as good as their last release, Endless Summer, but still a very good listen. Definitely recommended.
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