Our Newest Album Ever!

Description

Our Newest Album Ever! is the sophomore album by the American ska-influenced alternative rock band Five Iron Frenzy , released on SaraBellum Records in 1998, a division of 5 Minute Walk Records, distributed by WCD/WEA. The album was recorded by Masaki Liu September 1997 at One Way Studios in Concord, California; with Masaki and the band producing. Mixed by Masaki and the band. Cover artwork and illustrations by Douglas TenNapel.

Five Iron Frenzy is Reese Roper on lead vocals, Scott Kerr on guitar and vocals, Micah Ortega on guitar, Nathanael “Brad” Dunham on trumpet, Dennis Culp on trombone and vocals, Leanor (Jeff the Girl) Ortega on saxophone, Keith Hoerig on bass, and Andrew Verdecchio on drums.

What can you say about a band that has the good taste to have TenNapel of Neverhood fame design their cover? They sure better have something good to go with it. Five Iron Frenzy has always been a fun, energetic band and Our Newest Album Ever!, their second album, seems to carry on that tradition. The music is similar to the first album, Upbeats and Downbeats – Five Iron Frenzy considers themselves to be ska-core, which usually combines ska with punk rock, pop, or other styles of music.

«Handbook for the Sellout», «Where is Micah», and «Superpowers» are humorous looks at the band which indicate fame may not be all it’s cracked up to be. For example, as «Superpowers» says:

Eight people in a stinky van,
A couple more couldn’t hurt.
Eat some food off the floor.
I’ve developed a taste for bread mold.
Ride around in a van,
Don’t take a shower for six weeks and…
We’ve been given superpowers…
I once wanted to be famous,
Now I want to take it back.

Then, there are the songs that directly point us to God, such as a song with the unlikely title of «Suckerpunch»:

A Song Sung for underdogs,
for all the left out. A flag
flying for losers, somewhere
in the Heavens. The God of
ever-lasting comfort,
believed in me, loved me
when I was faithless, he still
died for me.

A lot of the songs, like «Blue Comb ’78», seem silly, but don’t be led astray. Hidden under the silliest lyrics are pearls of wisdom which, in my opinion, keep this band heads above its fellow ska bands. [Shari Lloyd, The Phantom Tollbooth, May 1998]

[Brian Quincy Newcomb, CCM, January 1998]

> iTunes (https://music.apple.com/us/album/our-newest-album-ever/867557369)

CD tracklist:

01. Handbook For The Sellout
02. Where Is Micah?
03. Superpowers
04. Fistful Of Sand
05. Suckerpunch
06. Kitty Doggy
07. Blue Comb ’78
08. Banner Year
09. Second Season
10. Litmus
11. Oh, Canada
12. Most Likely To Succeed
13.1 Every New Day
13.2 The Godzilla Song

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by SaraBellum Records.

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