The Living End

Those who were graduating from drug rehab long before any of the members of the Living End were born are bound to recognize the direct lifts from “Janie Jones” all over this record, so the question is, what gives? Who are these lunatic Australians with the audacity to play punk rock as if it actually exists? You can cop the riffs and mirror the image, but you can’t turn back the clock. Punk is dead. Get used to it. OK. So, only tracks one and seven sound likethe Clash’s "Janie Jones." And the three lads play a lively update of the Van Diemen’s Land shalama-bama stomp. Here, mostly, history’s being played instead of made, right down to the "we’re white and we can play reggae, too" sensibilities. The rest is just spitting in the wind. These three guys against the world? C’mon. That’s so … Ned Kelly!