Brats in Battalions

Adolescents | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 23, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Triple X Records
• ASIN: B000000P45
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #326,889 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The first album by the reformed Adolescents (the group had split after their 1981 debut) finds most of the original band reunited, with the exception of Alfie Agnew standing in for his brother Frank Agnew on second guitar, behind singer Tony Cadena and lead guitarist/primary songwriter Rikk Agnew. Much had changed on the hardcore scene since the band's 1982 split, however, and Brats in Battalions finds the group foundering a bit as they try to decide which of the several available fragmentary mini-genres they slot into best: Queers/Descendents-style pop/punk, Redd Kross-style sarcastic power pop, Social Distortion-like Americana, Suicidal Tendencies-like punk metal? All are tried on, and while most of them suit the band fine, none of them are exactly right. Interestingly, the best tracks are the Flamin Groovies-inspired raucous covers of the proto-punk classics "I Got a Right," and a "House of the Rising Sun" that turns the Animals' version of the song into a grinding howl of post-hardcore energy. (Unfortunately for fans of punk covers of British Invasion classics, "Do the Freddie" is a clattering, seemingly half-finished original, not the Freddie and the Dreamers theme song). The Adolescents, and their later incarnation, ADZ would make this style of punk-infused pop covers a band specialty over their following albums, but those records would also find the group focusing their own creative energies to a greater effect. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reunion falls short of expectations., May 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Brats in Battalions (Audio CD)

Five years after recording their amazing debut album and promptly self destructing, the Adolescents reunited and recorded this collection of new and old songs. Some are good and some are just plain weird. "She Wolf" is a mutant Alice Cooper meets the Damned and gets drunk on Jim Morrison's grave Hammer House of Horror type epic which leaves your average skateboard riding punk fan dumbfounded. Their version of the folk standard "House of the Rising Sun" retains the original female gender narrative which, sung by the prematurely world-weary Tony Montana, adds sort of a Santa Monica Blvd. perspective to it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this was a little slower, October 14, 2005

By 

Steve "SBN" (Kenosha, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brats in Battalions (Audio CD)

Their are some good songs on this album, but it's a little slower than the blue album. I thought a great funny song was She wolf. it sounds like a couple song at the beginning but then it gets better and faster. I know a lot of people won't agree with me on this one but I think in a way they were kind of gothic and creepy for a punk band because of their songs about children and stabbing each other as a game and so forth. but I thought they were cool anyways.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you don't know The Adolescents..., September 14, 2004

By 

Tony Baloney - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brats in Battalions (Audio CD)

Then you don't know what punk rock is. This isn't their finest effort because you can't beat the blue album, but it is well worthy of purchase.