Acoustic music is something nearly all (heavier) rock bands venture into at some point - acoustic guitars often are the building blocks of songs and as such some songs lend themselves better to an acoustic format. However, most bands limit themselves to one or two acoustic tracks being featured on albums and, especially in punk rock music, few bands venture into the realms of entirely acoustic records. Against Me! are different however. Their American folk influences notwithstanding, their first three releases ("Vivida Vis!," "Against Me!," and "Crime, As Forgiven By...") featured no distorted electric guitar at all. On The Acoustic EP (aka Jordan's First Choice) the band is stripped right down to just Tom Gabel's voice, an acoustic guitar and an upright bass played by Dustin Fridkin. "The Acoustic EP", released on Vinyl on Sabot Productions in 2001, originally featured 4 songs, three of which were re-recorded for their 2002 debut "Reinventing Axl Rose." When it was re-released on CD two bonus tracks were added, a version of "Reinventing Axl Rose" opener "Pints Of Guinness Make You Strong" and an untitled sixth track that is often known as "Armageddon."
Track one on the CD, "Jordan's First Choice" gets the record off to a surprisingly fragile start. "Tell me how can you comprise yourself like this," sings Gabel as soft chords ring under him. In truth however, this version of the song is pretty similar to that which reappears on their debut, though that version is probably slightly rawer sounding. "Those Anarcho Punks Are Mysterious" is better, with good use of the bass and the guitar chords sounding less ska-like than the distorted version. The music sounds softer, maybe even more accessible, and the song is slower overall with more emphasis on the lyrics. This is good because the lyrics carry a more definite melody. The best bit in the song is "that bit" in the middle where the guitar cuts out and only vocals accompanied by handclaps are heard. Slowed down this comes across extremely powerful and works really well. The track ends with Tom laughing into the microphone. "Reinventing Axl Rose" is track three and is definitely identifiable as an acoustic version of an electric song. Though song has strong roots in folk and the guitar parts have more space to breathe, resulting in a more own feel than that of its electric counterpart. The song is very good but feels a lot like acoustic punk - though I suppose this is a good way to classify Against Me!'s music.
Track four is the only-on-this-EP song "We Did It All For Don." I personally do not like this track a great deal, it feels disjointed and just generally average, the chorus works well enough but the verse doesn't sit as well. Gabel's voice here doesn't sound as passionate as usual and is almost annoying. The backing vocals that come in halfway through are especially annoying, they are out of sync and out of tune. Overall the song just lacks something, maybe a whole band being behind it would beef it up better. "Pints Of Guinness Make You Strong" is much better, probably one of the best Against Me! songs, and its folky rhythm lends itself to the acoustic really well. Admittedly Tom sounds like his vocal chords are bleeding, but it adds to the raw passion of the story - one of his best lyrics, a story about an Irish widow and an ode to friendship. The bass is at it's best in this song, the upright bass giving an authentic folk sound to proceedings. Up to this point all the songs have mean melancholy reflective efforts, but this changes with the upbeat final track "Armageddon" (or "Untitled"). The lyrics are no less reflective but the intro riff to the song is much more sprightly than previous tracks. The palm muted chorus also works surprisingly well, in spite of the fact that it is quite different to the rest of the song. Overall, "Armageddon" is probably the best song on the EP, maybe because it is so much cheerier than the rest of the tracks! It also contains some really great lines, the one that sticks out for me being "And for the four year old girl found dead in a dumpster, shot by her mother, her eulogy is the sound of construction though head to head traffic - today is just another day."
"The Acoustic EP" is quite difficult to rate. Most listeners will have heard "Reinventing Axl Rose" first, and there are 4 tracks from that CD here. However, the alternative versions are an interesting listen, and when they work ("Pints Of Guinness Make You Strong") they work very well indeed. Naturally, the two tracks that can't be found elsewhere are the real reason to buy the CD. I personally think the "The Acoustic EP" is a really interesting prospect that is worth investigating for people who are already fans, but is not a great gateway into the band.
Joe
