I knew what I was getting into when I decided to review "So Long, Astoria," but I couldn't turn away. I have the same soft spot for The Ataris as I do for Blink 182 and sugary cereals. Although spiffed up with a Colombia Records-sized budget and a more mature sound, fronted by an older and weirder looking Kris Roe, The Ataris are still the kids who wrote "San Dimas High School Football Rules" two albums ago and forever defined their own category of nostalgia-driven pop punk.
Much like their clever Bill and Ted reference of yesteryear, The Ataris have packed "So Long Astoria" with a collection of tunes that are forcibly poppy and laden with quasi-sentimental lyrics that will leave 14-year-old girls around the country aching to make out with Roe. If making out with TRL's target audience was what The Ataris set out to do when they first became a band, then they have played their hand well. Unfortunately, though, they fail to put enough depth into their lyrics to keep the attention of anyone who doesn't actively get into arguments about who is the cutest Atari.
Not all of the lyrics on this record lack substance, however.Surprisingly, only a couple of the songs make references to failed romance, a theme which dominated nine of the 14 songs on 2001's "End is Forever."
Instead, with "So Long, Astoria," Roe paints a description of his youth and how his life has changed since those days.
"Sometimes I still see myself in that lonesome bedroom / Playing my guitar and singing songs of hope for a better future," he laments on the title track.
Instrumentally, The Atari sound still permeates, but the songs do not sound nearly as rockin' as on "End is Forever" and "Blue Skies and Broken Hearts ... Next 14 Exits." Musically, "So Long, Astoria" is predominantly simple melodic leads overtop power-chords in the standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus-breakdown-chorus punk fashion. The album begins with the most poppy mid-tempo radio friendly-tunes before transitioning into the more rockin' songs towards the end.
The sequencing is unfortunate because one gets so accustomed to the mediocre pop tone of the first half of the album that by the time the interesting songs enter, it is too late. In addition, the conflicting tone of the second half of the album robs the album of unity.
"Summer '79," the album's standout track, is built around a fun Beach Boys-esque melody and therefore is awarded some silly lyrical slack, unlike the serious songs, where the lyrical blunders do a lot more damage to whatever sentiment the band is trying to get across.
I will avoid going into a debate about how the Ataris has written several songs in which they state how much they hate the radio, while they now are on radio. But rather, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they were forced at gunpoint to release radio singles after they were tricked into signing to a major label by gypsies.
To its credit the album does have several other solid songs, including "The Hero Dies in This One," "All You Can Ever Learn is What You Already Know," and the energetic Don Henley cover, "The Boys of Summer." All of these songs come from the significantly superior latter half of the album.
Laden with excessively textured guitars, Moog synthesizers and the occasional piano, however, the album reeks of overproduction. Although spending some time on production is not always detrimental to a punk rock record, there is no need for every note to be glossed over with reverb. Looking back on such hugely successful punk records as Green Day's "Dookie" and Blink 182's "Dude Ranch," one should realize that listeners do not require stellar production to fall in love with an album. Sometimes if a record is under-produced correctly, it adds to the music's personality.
Overall, "So Long, Astoria" is not a bad album.
It still has the charm of their earlier releases, but like so many other bands that have received major label attention after the MTV gurus realized that there is a decent market for punk music they have been consumed by capitalism. It is all supply and demand. Given that there are tons more fame-seeking pop punk bands out there then there are video spots on MTV, it is no wonder the record label masterminds have the power to do whatever they want to a band's sound without the band complaining. If that band does not work out, the gurus know there are plenty more similar bands similar that can fill in and become the next Blink Found Charlotte 41.
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