Less Than Jake – In With The Out Crowd

I’m a geek.

I love sitting on the computer reading online comics, I even have a wide list in my favorites specifically for when I feel the need to go and read my online comics. Some are the accepted punk comics, like the famed Nothing Nice To Say, others are more game oriented like Penny Arcade. One of my favorites is a little less known ska comic, called 21 Dead Monkeys. There is a comic on there about Less Than Jake‘s new album In With The Out Crowd which describes the album to a t. You can read that comic right here.

As you can see, Hoss, the loveable character is quite agitated with the new album, like many fans were. It just doesn’t have that same punch Less Than Jake normally delivers. But then you think about it a bit more, and you start to see the good songs amongst the passable. You listen to it a bit more and those good songs become more and more and the passable less and less. You start to pick out the little parts which made you fall in love with Less Than Jake in the first place. The classic ska upstroke is still there, particularly on Let Her Go, which gets you skanking in your seat. Chris’ more punk rock, rawer vocals are still there and ever present, slowly climbing into your skull and getting you to sing along. The more you listen, the more you realize that it’s still Less Than Jake.

The biggest change in the album is carefully pinpointed in the third frame of the 21 Dead Monkeys cartoons, and that is the odd lack of horns on In With The Out Crowd. Upon first listen, the horns are few and far between except for a few standout tracks like PS. Shock The World and Mostly Memories where the songs kick in with a burst of sax and trombones. But as you listen to it a bit more, you see the horn selection layered carefully in the background of most of the songs. This is a great pity, because they were mixed better than the songs would be that much more entertaining. But the way it is, the songs miss that punch unless you pay a lot of attention to search for them. But as Hoss pointed out, these songs would sound amazing live.

There’s no denying that In With The Out Crowd has a fair few great songs, like The Rest Of My Life (which is surprisingly slow), Landmines And Landslides, Soundtrack Of My Life or Hopeless Caseto name a few; but it is still far from being the band’s shining accomplishment. Although, if giving the chance, most Less Than Jake fans will still truly enjoy it, once they look past the slight overproduction.