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Occasionally a CD comes along that you can't stop playing. For some inane reason various ditty's stick in your brain like velcro in your pubes and no matter what - you can't shake it out. In 'Tales of a Drunken Generation' we have such a CD. Punk Rock sing-a-long classics delivered without pretence and pomposity that any Herbert can relate to. This 77 style 16 track classic smacks of spirit and honesty and for the true punk connoisseur this is a must buy.
'Anarchy in Argos' 'AFS anthem' and 'Guns for Oil' stand out but for me the whole album is of an excellent standard and is a true reflection of the bands live performances. For me the comedic 'God Squad' and 'Minimum Wage' are the albums zeniths that encapsulate the tongue in cheek approach the band adopt so well. Making a statement and being funny is a difficult combination but AFS do it with such admirable ease that they really do stand out. With this being the only official release the future looks rosier than a freshly whacked buttock and anyone looking for a good night out needs to check this lot as soon as possible. This is music for the man on the street and can transcend punk rocks sometimes limited boundaries and perhaps capture a wider audience and get back some of that true punk spirit. I for one hope so.

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We first reviewed AFS back in September, when they had just been together 7 weeks and released their first four track EP. And we loved it! Here they are back again with a full length, full on, great recording, nicely packaged, 16 track, 12 new ones and 4 thankfully carried over (re-recorded and given a bit of umpf!), from that first EP 'Texas Idiot', cause they were gems! As for the music AFS play straight up, late 70's, early 80's UK punk, with a little dash of oi. Munki Boi's vocals are just great, fuckin really great, raw and gruff, but melodic and totally understandable, great music from the other three lads, and great backing vocals, total fuckin UK punk, real pub punk. Working class, no bells, no whistles, just punk. You'll be singing along after hearing each chorus once. Lyrically they range from humorous to intelligent and political. 'Anorexic princess of Pop', pick your pop icon, and its about her! "Starve yourself, Starve yourself, Starve yourself to death." 'Teaxs Idiot', don't need to tell you who this is about! "Somewhere in Texas, theres a village without its idiot" 'God Squad' one of my favs, musically and lyrically, about Jehovah's Witnesses! (JW's once came to my office and handed me their Watch Tower mag, looked me over and said, we know you wont be interested but maybe one of your work mates might be! hahaha) "God Squad knocking on my door, You aint coming in" If only that was playing when they came!! 'Guns for Oil', an anti war song "Guns for Oil, Oil for Guns, Sent to Slaughter, Your Nations Sons" 'Anarchy In Argos', hahaha! "Anarchy In Argos and no one really cares" All the tracks really stand out, but the penultimate one 'Year of the Barricades', a protest song, interspersed with actual radio/tv samples from a protest really sticks out to me, slightly differnet to the rest. And the last one aptly called 'Last One' (longest of the CD too, by far!)finishes the CD of nicely with a great melodic song, "We're all off down the pub, to see the UK Subs". If you like UK punk then checking AFS is a must, if you listen to MTV punk, then pick this up and maybe learn a thing or two! I'll have an interview up soon with them, they ain't young! so I'm interested to know their backgrounds in the punk scene, bands they've been in etc., cause they are one great punk band. Better finish off and transfer this to the mp3 player, this one will get alot of listens!
As ebayers would say, Recommended A++++++++++++++++++!

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mass movement

Bloody hell, this was a nice surprise. A stomping old 80’s UK punk rock record, taking The Business and melding them with The Exploited, to create a fun punk rock record. Shit, and I thought that this kind of band had died out when punk rock lost it’s sense of humour and sense of fun…Not sure that it will appeal to anyone under the age of thirty, but those of you who have passed the magic numbers, should bloody love AFS. Anyways, what do I care about anyone under thirty, none of you buggers know anything of any use anyway…

Tim

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