Man, I loved the Explosion, still do actually; and it is quite nice to finally see Bury Me Standing (their third album) finally see a release to the general public on a physical format (the record leaked way back, but we will get into that later) so that people get to hear some of these awesome latter day tunes from this fun punk rock band (another aspect of the album that we’ll circle back to shortly). The Explosion has been getting a decent chunk of time on my turntable of late since Bury Me Standing was handed to me and my love of the and has been not quite rekindled (because it never ended) so much as just brought back around into my listening conscious, and the memories and good times that I had while listening to and seeing these guys have been flooding back.
Bury Me Standing is an example of the latter day Explosion (post major label introduction of polished sheen pop sound as opposed to the grittier sound of their records pre-Black Tape or Red Tape if you want to get technical) complete with big choruses and crazy hooks that demand singing along with Million Dollar Matt and the boys, and the album does boast some pretty ripping tunes that will satisfy even the most jaded jerks; “It Ain’t Right”, “Save Us”, “Image Of A Son”, and probably my favorite track on the record, “Yesterday’s Papers” (easily, this song could make my top 10 songs from the Explosion without shame or irony) all bring the goods. However, there are a bunch of songs that I could do without on the album like “KDZ Radio” (also known as Kidz Radio on the leaked version) while there are songs on said leaked version, such as “Broken Bones”, that did not make the cut for some reason; so in this sense, the track selection for the official version is a bit disappointing (then again, what do I know).
Like I said, the fact that Bury Me Standing is receiving a physical release is awesome; and there are plenty of great songs to make this a worthwhile release. If you do get the album, pop it on your turntable, crank up the volume, and jump around like a maniac because it is a good time.
