Only their sixth album of original material in 24 years (ahh, the productivity of heroin addiction!),
All This and Puppet Stew
proves
the Dickies
are at least incapable of making a bad one. They broke half their formula on the previous two records, dropping the sidesplitting comedy that made their first four LPs ageless gases. They'll never banish the glorious
power pop
punk
that's forever been their hallmark, but the bandmembers now care about making more genial loud
guitar pop
as scintillating as the stack of 1960s records they cherish.
"Marry Me, Ann,"
"I Did It,"
and
"Huge"
all reach back for the hummable, lovable, heart-tug-able greatness of their old
Quick
cover,
"Pretty Please Me."
Stan Lee
still keeps the fat power riffs coming, and
Leonard Phillips
wraps his thick, boyish, goofy-sweet voice around the abundant melodies with his voluble charm. There's nothing about hunchbacks, pagodas, Asian TV anchorwomen, gorillas,
Sammy Davis, Jr.
, the Pep Boys, waterslides, cholos, zombies,
the Germs
' bassist, mole men, talking penises, or even covers of
cartoon
themes, but there are some clever/funny-dumb songs in
"Wack the Dalai Lama,"
"He's Courtin' Courtney"
(ha ha!), and the first-rate
"My Pop the Cop."
Meanwhile, the
Dickies
-ized covers this time are
"See My Way,"
"Donut Man,"
and the
Human Beinz
hit
"Nobody But Me."
The next album should be released in, oh....six years, 11 months, 21 days, 17 hours, and nine minutes. (Fans will get that, from the joke
Phillips
tells about the precise length he's been free of drugs, before saying, "Just kidding!") That they've somehow managed to exist uninterrupted -- however sporadically -- for a quarter century with this sort of quality control in the studio, and that they've done it despite some unfortunate personal habits, is as much a marvel as their LPs are so enjoyable. ~ Jack Rabid