"Everything Used to Be Better" . . . ? Nope. I picked up this smoker a
couple of days back and everything has since been superbly fucking
fantastic, thank you very much. I simply can not recall any album that has
grabbed me by the balls as hard and as quickly as this Yesterday's Kids'
debut album. The album refuses to leave my stereo and when around my stereo 
I have done little else but play this smoker over and over again.


This is not a rock n' roll band that makes you want to dance, this is a
rock n' fucking roll band that commands you to decimate every last tendon
of your right bicep in manic flailing action as you hopelessly try to
accompany some of the sweetest, tightest tracks to grace these ears in a
long, long time. Full-force rock n' roll without a hint of pretension or
bullshit with a sound, maybe, like Green Day (or Cheap Trick) meets
Dillinger Four, but I doubt that really captures it. Just think
infectiously catchy, toe-tappingly exhilirating, fast and furious and it's
still not really coming across . . .


For the record, I don't adore EVERY second on this record. The much-loved
number, "Perception", for instance, strikes me as kind of weak and from
time to time, for seconds at a time, the vocals can sound a little, well,
forced. But then I flick the dial to "Better Off Alone" and as the clock
strikes 1:36 remaining, I'm nowhere else but total rock n' roll heaven,
that place that only tunes like "Six Percent" and "Hangin' Around" are
capable of sending me off to.


Alright, fuck it, "Better Off Alone" is calling and I need to give it my
full attention. Before I go, though, let it be said that anyone that
doesn't beat a path immediately to their nearest independent record store
and pick up this smoker is doing themselves and the world a huge
disservice. The really scary thing, though, is that Green Bay, WI's finest
are EVEN better live . . .