New Less Than Jake Is Overrated (In With The Out Crowd - Less Than Jake)

Member Name: rleigh

Product:	In With The Out Crowd - Less Than Jake
Date:	11/02/08 (59 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A couple of tracks are quite enjoyable.

Disadvantages: The album on the whole is really rather disappointing.

'In With The Out Crowd' is the most recently released album from Less Than Jake. At two years old it isn't exactly 'brand new' any more, but the newest nonetheless and will remain so until they release their eighth studio album later this year. It is my least favourite of all of the albums from the Floridian Ska Punk band Less Than Jake and in truth is not one that I hold in particularly high regard at all. That said, it is by no means a bad album, it's just not a great one.

The album is really rather lacklustre and none of the tracks present are particularly exciting at all. The first single lifted from this album was 'Everything Is Overrated' for example which in itself is a really average track. The sad thing is that it is probably one of the highlights from the album and nothing really shines through too much. All twelve tracks are rather disappointing and all the excitement that is usually present in a Less Than Jake release seems to have been removed. The music is not too different to their older material, it just lacks life and is therefore a little on the dull side to listen to. I had been quite excited when the album was released, but this excitement was short lived and soon replaced with complete shock and utter disappointment.

'Everything Is Overrated' is perhaps a gross overstatement on behalf of the band, but it is certainly true that their 'In With The Out Crowd' is greatly overrated. It is their least impressive album, and this may be in part down to the fact that the horn section are not utilised as much as usual on this album. Their horn section generally gives the band a great injection of life and excitement, but with their horn section for the most part missing entirely in the 'In With The Out Crowd' album; the music just doesn't sound as good. Instead of forefronting the horn section, they have tried to implement guitars where horns would usually be, something I just can't get to grips with when listening to the album. To listen to, it is quite obviously the same band; just a less impressive version.

Although a lot of the album is quite frustratingly mediocre, there are a few tracks here that are worthy of a mention. 'Fall Apart' for example I feel is quite a powerful track and is one that I do quite enjoy. It is far from being Less Than Jake at their best and is really rather repetitive, however it is vaguely enjoyable and the guitars sound decent and the drumming is excellent as ever. 'The Rest Of My Life' is another of the tracks that stands out strongly to me. It is upbeat and fun, but even still there is something lacking about it due to the absence of the horn section. It does however have a brilliant chorus and this alone is something which I feel makes the track sound mightily impressive.

I really don't enjoy criticising this album; Less Than Jake are one of my favourite bands and it is therefore extremely painful for me not to wholly enjoy this album but the truth is that a lot of it just isn't very good. Many of the tracks are just lacking in the usual wow-factor that the band possess and therefore make for quite disappointing and unenthralling listening. There are of course a couple of promising moments during the albums forty minute duration, but this is just not enough in my opinion. Less Than Jake used to make the most amazing of Ska Punk music, and yet with 'In With The Out Crowd' they don't seem to show that at all. Their generally excellent Ska Punk sound has been replaced here with music where the Ska element has in the main been removed. I would not recommend this album from the band, but would instead insist you listen to some of their earlier albums which in my opinion are a whole lot better than this. 'In With The Out Crowd' does this great band no justice whatsoever and what exactly the band were thinking when they recorded this album I just don't know. It's not a bad album by most bands standards, but having released such fantastic albums in the past Less Than Jake had a lot to live up to with with this release and just didn't quite manage it.

Summary: I will generally sing the praises of Less Than Jake, but not on this occasion.