Punk Sounds by The Huntingtons

posted in: December 2009, Music Review | 0

I saw these guys at the first TomFest and they blew me away! I got to hang out with them, we talked a lot about the Ramones, in fact I saw the Ramones in San Francisco the same night I started my drive to Tomfest! I’ve seen and heard many bands in what’s been dubbed “Ramones-core” and nobody is as good as the Huntingtons. The reason, well it’s all about the playing, the super fast down stroke on the guitar, playing bass with the same speed an octave up, the one handed 8th and 16th beat on a closed high hat, and the ever moving, almost military, kick patterns. Everyone rips on the Ramones until they try to play Ramones songs the proper way, it’s very difficult, the Huntingtons can do it. As I started this review I discovered that there are two versions of the album, a 13 song, and the iTunes 18 song version. What I did was download the 18 song iTunes version, then went to Amazon and downloaded the three songs that are on the 13 song version that are not on the 18 song version, thus forming a mega 21 song version, confused yet? Oh yeah, it’s also available on CD.

Here’s the rundown of the album, it’s a collection of B-Sides and rare cuts, the 3 songs I downloaded from Amazon were “I Don’t Like It”, “Not By You”, and “It’s Always Christmas At My House”. Six of the songs are rarities from the indie release All That Stuff And More Vol.1 (which I don’t have, so this is release is good). Much of the material was from unfinished recordings from the classic Get Lost album sessions. Four Ramones covers that are not on the File Under Ramones album. Two new songs, “Why Should I Dream” and “Don’t Pick On Me”. I know a few of the songs were also previously released on random comps and such, the hard core fans will know. Punk Sounds is such a solid collection of songs, it’s one of my favorite releases from this band. Along with this release High School Rock has been re-mastered and added bonus tracks, so check that out.

A bit of info: Jeannie Pierce was diagnosed with stage 3 Brain Cancer on May 2nd, 2006. She has had three brain surgeries thus far and has limited use of the left side of her body. Long time Huntingtons fans will recognize the name Jeannie from the song Jeannie Hates The Ramones. Jeannie is the wife of original Huntingtons drummer, Mike Pierce (aka Mikee Huntington). To show love and support for Mikee and to raise money to help his family during this most difficult of times, all the proceeds made from this album will go to her treatment.

[2009 Steinhaus | Purchase: Amazon.com]

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