Full

Hotdogwater Cocktail (Acme)
by Scott Hefflon

Love ALL but wish Chad sounded more like your favorite poppunk singer and the band was even faster and funnier? Well, meet FULL. FULL even goes so far as to create a philosophy, or “FULL”osophy, if you will. Filled with ampli”FULL”cation, FULL sounds like a younger, equally-talented, equally-well-produced ALL. Recorded half at The Blasting Room and half by Doug McBride at Chicago’s Gravity Room, Hotdogwater Cocktail is a lush, guitar-driven, harmony-laced album littered with tasty guitar fills, strolling bass lines, and playfully sarcastic lyrics. That’s not to say a few of the 13 originals aren’t filler (those toward the end of the disc, luckily), but, on the whole, this is a record you can play end to end again and again without getting sick of it (four times through, bobbing my head, while doing something else is my threshold). And, for a change, I actually wish this record came with lyric sheets. With scathing songs about “punk” and music critics (hey, waitaminute!), lines like “I’m going to wash that punk right outta my hair” in “The ‘P’ Word,” ya know there’re goodies here you’ll be singing around the house as soon as you learn the words. Surprisingly enough, the first single is the bonus track, a cover of America’s “Sister Golden Hair.” While I thought the song was by Joe Jackson (never had an older brother who had all their records), it’s a song of childhood simplicity gone by, and a great song at that. America, by the way, is on tour now with Blood, Sweat, and Tears. Watch your local listings, especially wherever it is that Jimmy Buffett plays in your area.
(PO Box 81491 Chicago IL, 60681)