REVIEWS:
These guys get most of the credit for the modern ska/punk revival from people who actually know a lot about the movement. Green Day and a bunch of other similar bands started after OpIv came out, and after Green Day hit it big, other similar bands followed suit. Lead singer Jesse Michaels even designed the sleeve and disc for Green Day's debut. There are a couple of things that kept them from being as big as their followers, however. First of all, these guys are much closer to "hardcore" than their counterparts, playing loud and fast and screaming all the while (their 1 cd runs through 27 songs in about 50 minutes). Second, lead singer Jesse Michaels didn't want to be a celebrity, and broke the band up just as they were starting to gain popularity. The remaining members of the band, Lint, Matt McCall, and Dave Mello went on to form Rancid, which grew popular quickly, but really didn't sound anything like OpIv.
--Philip Maddox
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
This is a compilation of just about everything OpIv ever did, excluding a couple of compilation appearances. It consists of their official LP Energy, their 7" EP Hectic, and a track from the 7" Turn It Around compilation. None of the songs really sound any different, though, so what songs came from where ultimately doesn't matter. Anyway, if you decide to pick up this album, here's what you're gonna get - 27 extremely short bursts of energy and anger tempered with an occasional ska rhythm (no horn section, though) and a lot of screaming and typically immature punk political idealism. The group has the sound down pretty well, and there are few missteps here (the one notable one being the horrible "rap" attempt of "Bad Town", which is damn near unlistenable. Plus, the song is 2:32 seconds long, making it the second longest song on here). Plus, a bunch of these songs are bound to get the discriminating mosh pitter going - my favorite is the opening "Unity" (later covered by Green Day as a lounge song), which gets things off to a fast, thrashing, catchy, head-banging start.
Other excellent punkers here include "Junkie's Running Dry", "I Got No", "The Crowd", and "Hoboken". There's lots more, but they all kinda sound the same. The rest of the songs are all modern ska type stuff, some of it working better than than the rest of it. "Unity" is particularly ear grabbing, featuring a big, catchy hook that you'll remember for a while (Reel Big Fish's version on their Keep Your Receipt EP actually improved on it, though). Tunes like "Smiling" or "Take Warning" are also guaranteed smile raisers.
The album does have some problems, though. First of all, the production is awful. I normally wouldn't care, but the tinniness here is hard to ignore. It's pretty raw. My version has been remastered, too. I cringe when I think what the old version sounded like. Plus, the band never really develops any ideas. Sure, they've got their sound down, but they don't really know where to go with it, so they just run it into the ground. Any group of 6 of these tracks would sound great, but 27 of 'em is just too much if you're not gonna do anything different. Most bof your better punk bands, like the Clash or the Dead Kennedys switched their albums up to keep the style fresh, but these guys just couldn't, which might explain why they broke up. Rancid, the group they turned into, doesn't show any signs of being innovative either (in fact, they're becoming more and more conservating and repetitive). Still, modern punk fans shouldn't be disappointed, and there are enough hooks here to keep your average listener satisfied.
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