Ben Weasel and His Iron String Quartet: These Ones Are Bitter

My Right to say what I want, and release a CD on ITUNES...


reviewed by: Pete

I am probably one of the biggest Screeching Weasel fans out there. I have every album, even the shitty ones, I have read the Ben Weasel books, I have had two different white Weasel shirts, and (check this out) my copy of "boogadaboogadaboogada" has a green cover, not a pink one. What I have always found endearing was the simplicity in the songs, and how they were almost given merit by the emotion in Ben Weasel's voice. Even if he was singing about characters from Happy Days having sex, or one of the Brady family snapping and disposing of the rest of the bunch. When his first solo album, "Fidatevi", came out a few years ago I instantly ordered it and greedily listened to it over and over again. Only to slowly realize that it kind of sucked. There were a few good tracks but they were overshadowed the poor production value and the fact that the playing, singing and songwriting was all pretty sub-par.

Cut to 2007. First of all releasing this new record as a digital release only is kind of frustrating. I like to be able to hold the CD and look through the booklet a thousand times, reading the lyrics and trying to really get a feel for the song. Plus I can't possibly put a burnt CD into one of my CD booklets...can I? Packaging notwithstanding, I was certainly wary about this because of his previous solo release, but after checking out a few songs on his myspace page I decided I would take the risk. What I found was quite a surprise. Mr. Weasel seems to have had the same feelings about "Fidatevi" as I did, and attempts here in "These Ones Are Bitter" to right the wrongs of his previous outing, and mostly succeeds.

His "Iron String Quartet" consists of members of Alkaline Trio and All American Rejects. Also, according to the liner notes (that I downloaded) it is also produced by a member of The All American Rejects. I can say that from the very first note on opening track "Let Freedom Ring" it sounds like the song could be squeezed onto any Screeching Weasel album and no one would ever notice the difference. Only one thing that would tip people off:Ben Weasel sounds really really good here. Hands down the best vocal performance of his to date. He still has his smarmy, attitude drenched whine, but its smoother and sounds as if he has been practicing. The music is great, and the production value is top of the line. The songs are typical, straight forward punk rock tunes, but more of a guitar driven sound dominates this release than previous Weasel material.

There are two songs mentioning a girl named Jeanette, presumably someone in Ben Weasel's life. Or maybe he just liked the way the name rhymed with stuff. The two songs "All Over" and "Jeanette" feature lines such as "You're sour all over baby" and "Spitting your venom one minute and then shamelessly changing your tone again" which both make me think that maybe this Jeanette person is a bitch...

There are plenty of high points aside from those mentioned above. The ongoing theme of the seasons returns here on "The First Day of Spring" an excellent entry in the series. "Blue is the Ocean" has a great guitar line as it fades out. Fast forward a few tracks and you find "Addition by Subtraction" a classic poppy Weasel song, which is as good as any song any other band is writing now. The record comes to a close with two great tracks, "In a Bad Place" is as epic a song as Weasel has ever written. It is slow, and building to the climax he has learned exactly when its time to hit the distortion pedal and sing a little louder. It sounds like "Last Night" from their album ""Emo" except sung by an adult. It closes with the repeating chorus "How could the Sun Be so Cold". The last track is "Only in November" which is a perfect way to close out this record, with Weasel singing about past loves, mistakes, and how he doesn't care about them anymore.

I don't listen to Screeching Weasel as much as I used. I guess when you get older you decide you need more 'complicated' and grown up music. Well screw that. I'm going to go listen to "My Brain Hurts" and "Emo". I was almost at two and a half star for this, but then I realied how damn good Ben Weasel really does sound, and also how much better this is than his previous solo record. I recommend you pick up (http://www.itunes.com/) this record because it isn't the best but it will help you remember why you loved Screeching Weasel in the first place.

High Points:

Let Freedom Ring

Got My Number

The First Day of Spring

Addition by Subtraction

In a Bad Place

Only In November

Low Points:

Give It Time. and thats about it.

Ben Weasel and His Iron String Quartet's These Ones Are Bitter

Released in 2007