Customer Reviews

4am Friday

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album is super rad! Totally stokes me out on life. Avail could possibly be the greatest byproduct of Virginia. This album tends to have more hooks to it than "one wrench." A bit more like "satiate." The opening track "simple song" is one of the greatest Avail songs ever. The lyrics are so quality. "Did I trip myself up again - did I see more than you did." and "not impressed with who knows who..." Check them out, you won't regret it...

This CD contains more raw, emotional power than any other that I have heard...EVER. Every song on this title is as powerful as the one before it. It starts off with Simple Song, which is their most popular song. All of the songs deal with emotions and politics, most of which exist in the state of Virginia. Monroe Park discusses the homeless problem in Monroe Park in Richmond while Governor discusses the disgust of the policies of the former governor of VA,George Allen. My personal favorite from this album is F.C.A.(For Christy and Al) which is a track dedicated to two friends of the band whose close friend had been killed. So, as you can see, the lyrics on this album, as on all of Avail's releases, have great meaning and emotional qualities. The music to back up these lyrics is as powerful as the words. The melodic hardcore rhythms are intense and awesome...PERIOD! I have seen them play before, and trust me...they will make you move. THIS CD ROCKS!!!!

What can I say but wow! The driving energy and power of this band will blow you away. I first heard this album 3 years ago, and every time I put it into my CD player, I am still blown away.

I'm a metal guy, but there are a few hardcore/punk bands that I really enjoy. Richmond's Avail is one of those bands. Avail combines melody with aggression, which sets them apart from the rest of the hardcore/punk scene. Avail is certainly loud and fast enough for most hardcore/punk fans, but they are also a band that fans of Social Distortion and Bad Religion can get into.

4AM Friday is the band's third album, and the second in the Jade Tree series of Avail reissues. You can tell Avail was still progressing and developing their sound with this album. Just as Dixie was a major improvement over Satiate, 4AM Friday is a better overall album than Dixie. The melodies on this album are incredible, as is the sheer energy Avail brings. The songs get you moving and get you thinking as well, which is a pretty rare thing.

As to this reissue - what's not to like? The album has been digitally remastered, so it sounds even better than before. Plus, they've added the entire 15-song Live at the Bottom of the Hill album as bonus tracks - doubling the album length. The live tracks sound much better than the Live at the King's Head Inn tracks that were included on the Dixie reissue. In addition to the extra songs, the booklet has plenty of new liner notes, photos, flyers, etc. All in all, the band gives you plenty of reasons to replace your old copy of 4AM Friday. I just hope Satiate receives the same deluxe treatment someday.

i really do, it's no "dixie" or even "over the james" but it's [darn] good. i guess it is what you would call 'Avail's "dark" record'... it rocks your [rear end] off like all avail records, only a little more moody. it has great songs like "simple song", "f.c.a" and "monroe park". this album is good to listen to while driving. it rocks. avail is one of the best live bands i have ever seen. i have been a huge fan of avail for like, 8 years now, they never disappoint.

This album is DA BOMB! I think Avail is a total kick ass band and they have totally kick ass songs. They are not musically talented by any means and, hell, his voice is even terrible, but they can put together a catchy song and a hell of a catchy album. And who doesn't like booze, drugs, screwing up, and then trying to make it all better? No one...That's what I thought. It's what makes life a box of chocolates. It what takes you down that winding road to no where that is less traveled than any other. It's what makes you think about all the stupid [...] you've ever done...Ahh, f*ck it...I'm done. Great album...Bonus star for the scatting. "You got me swingin' around the loopy doopty doo"...I don't know what he says.

Avail has the nasty habit of taking a great hardcore song, and then ruining it about a dozen times over with overwrought, syrupy, "melodic" parts that have nothing to do with the rest of the song. Seriously, they can go from Born Against to Blink 182 in 0.08 seconds. Yuck. But you wanna know what really ticks me off? They actually do have the ability to write songs like "Order" and "Monroe Park" that are good throughout their entire duration. Why didn't they write 13 more of those kind of songs?

Why oh why did they destroy the perfect Husker Du verse of "Hang" with an obnoxious skate-punk chorus? How clueless do you have to ruin a raging hardcore number like "F.C.A." with one of the worst bridges of all time?

But I'll tell you one thing, you know the intro-scan feature on ost CD players that lets you play the first 10 seconds of each song automatically? If you use that, this album gets five stars, no problem.

Now, I will speak to Avail personally:

You guys just don't try hard enough!