Bowling For Soup – ‘Sorry For Partyin’ (A&G Records)
CD Reviews
Written by Dave Prince
Tuesday, 29 September 2009 00:42
Well, it only seems like yesterday that I remember getting the album ‘Drunk Enough To Dance’, but that was back in 2002 and here we are seven whole years later and Bowling For Soup are releasing their 10th studio album. To say I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to review this is one of the understatements of the year…and yes this album will definitely be in my top 5 albums of 2009.
As a member of the BFS Army, I was given a sneak preview of a track called ‘Amateur Night’ back in May which was good but not great. The confusing part of this track was that when you played it – it displayed the album title as ‘Sorry for B-Sides’.
Kicking things off with ‘Really Cool Dance Song’ the band update their sound with a few ironic dance beats as the band admit during the song that they are trying for a hit to please their record company. As with most BFS albums their tongues are planted firmly in cheek, this album being no exception as the next track and possible next single ‘No Hablo Inglés’ continues the fun, as they explain that if you get into any kind of trouble all you need to say is “No Hablo Inglés”. The song ‘My Wena’ is one of the catchiest songs this year and with another hilarious video, the Soup boys are doing their army proud!
A couple of mentions for the standout tracks for me –
‘I Don’t Wish You Dead Anymore’ – Opens with a Quireboys-esque piano intro which kicks into a fun little ditty.
‘BFF’ – this song reminds me of the relationship Uber-scribes Gaz E. and Johnny H have – listen to the lyrics… you’ll know what I mean!
‘Me With No You’ – The emotional track of the album which along with ‘When We Die’ from 2006 album ‘The Great Burrito Extortion Case’ shows the guys are not afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves.
All of the songs are played perfectly with top class musicianship from the band which includes – Jaret Reddick on vocals, guitar – Erik Chandler on bass – Chris Burney on guitar & Gary Wiseman on drums. On bonus track ‘Belgium Polka’, the rest of the band share the vocal on a (yep, you guessed it) ‘Polka’ version of their classic ‘Belgium’ which continues a theme that a version of this song is on almost every album they’ve done.
At the end of the day this band and any of their albums is all about FUN (remember that…) so if you wanna have a cold one and smile, put this on and take stock of the good things in life!!!
I recommend this album to everyone as for 50 minutes life feels so happy!
Don’t Forget to check the guys out on their ‘Party In My Pants’ UK tour which begins on October 17th.