Posted on: October 21, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

It is so nice to see that a relic of the punk rock days has not eschewed the style that made eir a legend and went into something exponentially more boring (I’m looking at you, Lydia Lunch). Exene Cervenka and the Original Sinners come up with a bouncy, fresh punk track that really does not have any specific dating to it . “It Ain’t Supposed To Be” has a punk kernel but there is present a rockabilly sound (which is repeated throughout the tracks on the disc).

Where this sound is present in small amounts during “It Ain’t Supposed To Be”, “Last Dance” kicks up the rockabilly sound a notch in including a bass line that individuals will immediately tag as rockabilly. This means that the line that makes its way through the track is walking and never quieted down by the presence over other factors on the track. “Tavern” shows a little tension between two distinct styles; while there is the oft-mentioned rockabilly influence coming through, there is a halting alternative style that seems more fitting for The Stinky Puffs. What results is a compelling track not only because of its sound, but also because of the fact that individuals have not heard this mix of styles before. Each of the tracks on “Sev7en” has a certain radio-friendly sound that really draws attention away from the very deep interplay that the guitars have with Exene’s vocals on tracks like “Sky Blue Pink”.

Being musical veterans, Exene and the Sinners do not seem to have any of the posturing that many of the punk bands currently out on the market have; everything is committed to the disc not to sell records but because it was the best fit for the track. Everyone knows that there are a huge amount of punk acts that try to have a sound that is influenced by 1977 or 1982; Exene Cervenka and the Original Sinners represent all of these distinct punk styles and more without trying to have the biggest Mohawks or most studded-up jacket. The fact that Exene and the band can move into something that sounds like fifties country (“Lonesome War”) without changing up the general sound of the disc is just a monument to the talent that each constituent part of the band has. Pick up this album, if it is not to check up what this piece of punk rock history has done in the last few years, and be amazed.

Top Tracks: Tavern, Lonesome War

Rating: 7.1/10

Exene Cervenka and the Original Sinners – Sev7en / 2006 Nitro / 12 Tracks / http://www.exenecervenka.com / http://www.nitrorecords.com / Reviewed 17 February 2006

[JMcQ]

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