By far and away the best two songs are the 2 singles that open this highly anticipated debut album from these 4 New York fashion victims, the erstwhile anthems being �I Live For Speed� and �Which One of The Two of Us is Gonna Burn This House Down?� Beside the fact that the latter is one of the longest song titles in the history of the music industry, there�s no denying it�s stature as a classic tune through and through.
�Angela� and �Stay Away From Me� see in lusty-punk shenanigans so favoured by The Star Spangles, but I�m a sucker more for their most melodic turns, and �I Don�t Wanna Be Crazy Anymore� in particular.
As if writing 13 totally original tracks for the album was too much, 2 are covers � and the first, albeit a �loose� cover, in �I�ll Get Her Back� (based on the Hoodoo Gurus� early-80�s original!) casually makes a mockery of chart pop in being so effortlessly infectious. Coupled with the yet catchier flavour of �Science Fiction/ Science Fact,� complete with the cutesy whining backing vox for raw harmony�s sake, there�s really no wonder these guys caught the eyes of Capitol Records� A&R people once thrown.
So there I was psyching myself up for the album�s final track entitled �The Party� for obvious reasons, yet this song (the only one of which they produced solely themselves, incidentally) is something of an anticlimax. On the 13-track whole, mind, this is a feel-good jaunt through some fuzzy top-class tunes come rain or shine and BRMC-braided broodiness.
Man do I hope TSS live long and prosper as opposed to burning out their talents before they really vault into their strides of old-skool punk-rock �n� roll prime. There�s plenty of potential to toy with here, believe me� 4/5 (STEVE RUDD)
www.thestarspangles.com www.capitolrecords.com