Album Reviews

- by Tom Dumarey

Not only do Brooklyn’s Ellen and the Degenerates have one of the best band names around, they also know how to write solid punk rock songs.

...which I’m pretty sure is kinda how I started my review of their EP as well... but who cares?

‘Return of the Herb’ is not all that different from their ‘Herb Alert’ EP except that it comes with 12 songs instead of 5. Which means it packs more than double the fun, amount of hooks and chances to start dancing. Oh, and ‘Return of the Herb’ has some saxophone action going on and comes with a nifty cover of Billy Idol’s ‘Dancing With Myself’ that ‘Herb Alert’ did not have.

What it sounds like? Well, think of cartoon characters getting into a fight. Where you see that little cloud and a flurry of arms and legs sticking out and nobody really gets hurt in the end? Not making any sense? Well, okay then...if you like your punk rock poppy, punchy and kinda-but-not-really sloppy with riffs and vocals that seem to be constantly on the verge of stumbling over one another before straightening themselves as yet another killer melody comes in, then Ellen and the Degenerates have got you covered. And they won’t let you leave until you are singing along or smiling. Probably both.

Track listing:

1. Beach Dumpster
2. Bozo
3. Not My Friend
4. Get Busy
5. Dumb 2 Exist
6. All Night
7. Knuckles
8. Big Bones
9. Good Again
10. Problems
11. Fast Times
12. Dancing With Myself