Darlington
Louder Than Morrissey
End
Including members from The Queers and Slowride, what really sets Darlington apart is main man Christy Darlington’s insane obsession with modern popular trash-pop culture. And while Darlington could be easily dismissed as playing mediocre pop-punk, that obsession eventually pays of, drawing the listener in with its constant tabloid referencing and pop-culture jokes. Louder Than Morrissey may suffer from taking one shortcut too many, but they make up for their sins on the latter half of this album which, with the exception of “Boobs Boobs Boobs” (even sillier than you’d guess), is both more punk and more playful than what’s come before.
“Joe Queer Sucks” and “Peachy Keen” are in-your-face punk rock, the kind that nobody’s been doing since 1982, while “Theo” is a sweet slab of unapologetic pop music. They do a splendid cover of Olivia Newton-John’s “Xanadu” – hurrah! – while “Superspazz” proves they can do the traditional happy pop-punk to perfection as well.
A longish, rather entertaining radio interview may not be the top choice for an album track, but it suits Darlington’s trashy everything-goes approach, and somehow serve to make final sense to a sprawling but ultimately fun album.
End Records: http://www.end-records.com
