Anthem

After ten-plus years of party grooves, label woes, and too many shows to count, Less Than Jake's Chris (vocals/guitar), Roger (vocals/bass), Vinnie (drums/lyrics), Buddy (trombone), and JR (saxophone) put everything they learned into Anthem. And what's old is new again. The band reissued its spiny font, but it also returned to the major-label ranks (this time with Warner Bros.), and hired hit-making producer Rob Cavallo (Green Day's Dookie, etc.) to tweak its tried-and-true formula of effervescent pop/rock punk-ska. The result is a hooky, heady collection of heartfelt postcards from the future that LTJ's youthful fan base has to look forward to. While Cavallo and mixer Tom Lord-Alge have certainly tightened Anthem's hooks, all the crunchy major chords and soaring choruses have a tendency to crowd out the band's ska influences and relegate its horn section to support status. While "Look What Happened" does employ JR and Buddy's considerable talents to the song's plaintive melody, and "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" is a bouncing, sunlit reggae rocker, the majority of Anthem is devoted to energizing punk sermons on booze, pals, and a youth wasted on empty wishes and "weeks of weekends" (from the single "She's Gonna Break Soon"). It's as if Less Than Jake is apologizing to itself for all the mistakes it made, while at the same time warning the listener about what not to do. All the lyrical soul-searching and sloganeering make eerie bedfellows for some of the hookiest material the band has ever written. But this also adds much needed character to songs that in younger hands might be earnest, yet empty-headed. - All Muisc Guide