Dillinger Four: Situationist Comedy

Dillinger Four: Situationist Comedy

2002

Fat Wreck Chords

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Noble Stabbings!!  2. A Floater Left with Pleasure in the Executive Washroom.  3.Fuzzy Pink Hand-Cuffs  4. The Father, the Son, and the Homosexual/Single Parent  5. Sell the House Sell the Car Sell the Kids Find Someone Else Forget It I'm Never Coming Back Forget It  6. Folk Song.  7. Fired-Side Chat  8. 'I Was Born on a Pirate Ship' (Hold Your Tongue)  9. D4=Putting the 'F' Back in 'Art'  10. All Rise for the Rational Anthem  11. Labour Issues in the Toy Department  12. File Under 'Adult Urban Contemporary'  13. New Punk Fashions for the Spring Formal








Hey! What's that in the air?

 I think I hear the ka-chink of timeclocks...

...the cracking of beers...

...and the fragrant smell of black vinyl, followed by the sound of a dropped needle...By God 'amn 'er...

IT'S FRIDAY!! (Glug...Glug...)

Yes! I love Friday nights! I love the anticipatory feel of the upcoming weekend, bursting with possibilities...Who knows what monumental achievements I'll complete on those two days off...

Maybe I'll write a novel...

Or go on a nature hike...


































 Or watch 16 straight hours of Diff'rent Strokes (My money's on this option)...

So what are we going to blare on the hi-fi on this fine Friday night? Why, what else but "Situationist Comedy" by D4!  Which is possibly my least favorite Dillinger Four album! Yay!

I mean, it's not bad...It actually kicks plenty of ass, but I can't help but feel the teensiest bit let-down after the absolute perfection of "Versus God." Although, you might see it differently...Y'see, unlike a lot of folks I don't listen to D4 for their speed or aggression...I listen to them for their brilliant songwriting and razor-sharp pop hooks...I seriously think the band is responsible for some of the smartest, catchiest songs ever recorded...But this album kind of feels like the band trying to reach back to "Midwestern Songs..." more hardcore moments, trying to get back a bit of their edge...This was good for a lot of the band's fans (many of whom single out "Situationist Comedy" as a highlight of D4's catalog) but I happened to be one of the people who really liked the big strides the band made in the melody department and as a result this album's never fully clicked with me...

 I remember putting "Situationist Comedy" on for the first time and hearing the opener "Noble Stabbings!!"...The verses were as exciting as anything the band ever did.. Ratcheting up the anticipation for the inevitable killer chorus, but instead I was greeted with the anticlimactic refrain of "Broken glass and razor wire..."  Huh? That 's it?  That's the killer chorus? What happened to the effortless flow of hooks on songs such as "Shiny Things is Good" or "Doublewhiskeycokenoice'"?  Even after playing it endlessly, the album mostly felt like a pile of parts...Albeit very cool parts, so I didn't complain too much...In the end, I found myself listening to it in the same way I listened to say, Agnostic Front...I put it on for a quick adrenalin rush...

Still, there are a few moments here that rank among the band's best... "Fuzzy Pink Hand-Cuffs" and "Sell the House Sell the Car Sell the Kids Find Someone Else Forget It I'm Never Coming Back Forget It" are both top shelf pop-punk...Oh, and "Fireside Chat" has the coolest moment on any D4 album...Right before the extended clanging drum outro there's a little section where Erik piles the harmonies sky-high as he sings:

"Another day
Another dollar
Another way to live with a life so intolerable..."

 Oh my God...It's so mind-blowingly awesome...It still makes my head swim whenever I hear it...I'd say these three tracks alone made the purchase totally worthwhile...And again, it's a pretty good album whose only real flaw is the spectacularly strong material that preceded it and followed it (but we'll get to "Civil War" in a day or two)...I still maintain this was probably the best punk rock album released in 2002 (alongside Bad Religion's "The Process of Belief" and "Apathy & Exhaustion" by Lawrence Arms)...
 
So let's crank up some Dillinger Four...Here's "Sell the House Sell the Car Sell the Kids Find Someone Else Forget It I'm Never Coming Back Forget It"...Let's make this the best Friday ever!!...