Editorial Reviews Music Review:
Music Review
Rosa Ponselle: On The Air, Vol. 2
Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps/L'Oiseau de feu/Jeu de cartes/Petrouchka/Pulcinella
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No band ever captured the innocent side of punk rock--the first generation, that is--as well as this Irish combo. Fueled by adolescent desire more than political angst, frontman Feargal Sharkey quavered and quailed about "Teenage Kicks" (to name but one of the album's multiple classics) while his bandmates pounded out incessantly pogo-friendly riffs that valued fun over fearsomeness. Each three-minute blast--from the starry "Here Comes the Summer" to the "yeah, whatever" self-deprecation of "Girls Don't Like It"--carries a depth charge of power beneath its frothy surface, a formula that would later be revived by Green Day. Sharkey went on to record more subdued solo material, while several of his bandmates formed the angular post-punk band That Petrol Emotion. --David Sprague