DOWN BY LAW – Crazy Days

Kung Fu 2024

Incendiary and infectious invectives from Florida denizens who care without giving a damn.

DOWN BY LAW –
Crazy Days

Maturing gracefully is the way many former anarchists went down by – but not this ensemble who manage to remain two-bit punks with a penchant for a three-penny opera three and a half decades after singer Dave Smalley decided to stick to his chosen genre’s original values and refused to weave the strands of hardcore or pop into what was a socially defiant stance. Keeping face and faith seems to keep on paying off for the veterans – today even more so than before, with the band’s line-up a slim trio instead of foursome they used to be – and “Crazy Days” could have easily come from the collective’s halcyon period. As fresh drummer Matt Morris and guitarist Sam Williams – who, celebrating his twenty spins around the sun in the group, strapped on a bass as well – fuel the leader’s spurts of bile, the dozen cuts on offer prick the punters’ skin and make them prick up their ears: it’s like falling into the familiar groove of feeling ill at ease, if high.

The players don’t waste time on building momentum, and this album’s opener “Stand Up, Stand Down” gets their eight-ball rolling right away, so the crossfire of Smalley’s riffs and Williams’ licks and Morris’ percussive assault underpin vocal orders to focus on reality, on the here and now, and the frivolously frantic title track speeds up the pulse further on. And while the jangly “Drink Deep” is a tad too reflective for its own good, the four-strings-spanked “Break Away” holds a righteous rage, and the folk-infected “Requiem” is as funereal as a jig. However, “Not Just You” demonstrates a harder veneer and sends a serious message, whereas “Tradition” whips drama into a frenzy, and the catchy “Fire Away” rocks ‘n’ raps with a lot of gusto despite the rhyme “gasoline-kerosene” which doesn’t impress – unlike the relatively unhurried, acoustically laced and harmonica-oiled “Wandering Train” that draws on country air, and “Set Me Free” that throws caution to the wind on its tempo-shifting route to a sweet refrain.

And then there’s the elegantly transparent, breezy “Time After Last” – aimed to get rid of sonic distortion and let the listener take a breath and prepare for the final salvo which is the heavier, albeit harmonious, “Let It Slip” that brings things to a close in a trippy, motorik manner. An exhilarating experience.

****1/4

July 24, 2024

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