Posted on: July 3, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Street Dogs – Fading American Dream / 2006 Brass Tacks / 13 Tracks / http://www.street-dogs.com / http://www.drt-entertainment.com /

Street Dogs’ first album was fucking amazing. Simple as that. Their second album was still decent, but it had less of the fury and fun style that “Savin Hill” had. Street Dogs are back with their third album, “Fading American Dream”, and it might just be the best of the three. The band links together Rancid with the streetpunk bands of the eighties, along with the sound that the band has to have given the fact that they have a former member of the Dropkick Murphys present. “Not Without A Purpose” catches individuals not only with catchy guitar lines and bouncy bass lines, but with a harmony on the vocals that in many ways is another instrument that can be used by the band.

The tracks are not short – songs hit three and four minutes most the time – but they go by so fast. In regards to current (since 1999) bands doing the streetpunk style, Street Dogs may just be the best. There is not much room for variation in the style, but it seems like with every subsequent track on “Fading American Dream” that the band varies things up enough that individuals are kept listening. The more rock influenced track “Fatty” brings back the halcyon days of the early nineties, when the Smashing Pumpkins were just getting started. Of course, this is present in the larger streetpunk context. Street Dogs have created a full album with tracks like “Fatty”, and actually have a length to the disc that surpasses many of the other rock albums coming out during the same time. There is nearly 43 minutes of music on “Fading American Dream”, a number that will be multiplied countless time owing to the high replay value of each of the tracks on the disc.

“Decency Police” moves away from the general formula in that there are more shrill, cutting guitars. This track resembles much more of a rock or even thrash metal track, with a quicker set of vocals (which at points are close to what Jello Biafra would lay down during eir Dead Kennedy days). This is just another testament to the chameleon-like nature of the Street Dogs; I know that the disc has been out for a few months, so here is to hoping that the band can have a short turn-around time and release a new album towards the end of this year. Hell, even a live album would do. Street Dogs in many ways have eclipsed the work of the Murphys, and anyone who is a fan of DKM should check out “Fading American Dream”.

Top Tracks: There is Power in a Union, Not Without A Purpose

Rating: 8.0/10

Leave a Comment