(insert title here) - Volume 1 Issue 2 - Reviews - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

To me, the coolest thing about listening to a Me First and the Gimme Gimmes album is that I've heard all of these songs before. The Gimmes are a punk rock cover band that leans towards the oldies end of the radio dial. They cover songs like "Sloop John B," and "Mandy." "Blow in the Wind" focuses on the sixties, my parents' generation. As such, these are all songs that I grew up listening to (on the oldies station) with my parents. Even if I don't know the names of these songs, I've heard them all a million times. Listening to a band speed up and distort all of these songs that I grew up with brings up a great deal of nostalgia. However, it's nostalgia mixed with that fist-pumping, sing-along feeling that I always get from listening to punk rawk, and I like it. I like it a lot.

Despite being a cover band that spends most of its time in the studio, the Gimmes retain most of the typical elements of a real punk rock band. For instance, on "Blow in the Wind" they show that, like a real punk band, they have started to decline by the third album. The album seems to lack a lot of the energy that the Gimmes displayed on "Have a Ball" and "Are a Drag." For instance, on "Have a Ball" Spike (the lead singer) ended the majority of the songs with a good old-fashioned yell: "YEAH! ONE MORE TIME YOU MOTHEFUCKERS!" or something along those lines. But on "Blow in the Wind" there's only one song that ends with a yell, and it's just one half-assed "YEA-UH!"

This doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but with punk rock, there's nothing technically impressive about the music; it's all four chords songs and simple harmonies. What punk has going for it is the energy, that's what makes it good, and when a punk band starts losing their energy (which is what less yelling denotes) it's a devastating loss.

The Gimmes have always added little things to the songs they cover. Every once in awhile, they will add a curse word or a shout, and this usually just makes the song that much more punk. However, on this album when they cover Tammy Wynette's classic "Stand by Your Man" they change an entire verse "Sometimes it's hard to be a Gimme/Giving all your love to just one band." This may sound wacky or zany on paper, but the effect it achieves on the album is just plain lame.

But despite all this lameness, "Blow in the Wind" is an above-average punk rock album. A good majority of the songs, "Wild World," "Runaway," and "Elenor" to name a few are vintage Gimmes. Overall, the album is a lot of fun, and a lot better than most punk on the market. I recommend it.

- Androo Wellner

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Blow in the Wind