The Adolescents Albums (7)
What The Critics Say
Reunion albums can be tricky. All too often, in worst case scenarios, it becomes obvious the band just doesn't cut it anymore. This is not the case with O.C. Confidential, the first Adolescents album since 1988's Balboa Fun Zone. Fans will be pleased with this particular lineup as it features original members Tony "Reflex" Cadena (vocals), Steve Soto (bass), and Rikk Agnew (guitar), rounded out by Frank Agnew (guitar), and drummer Derek O'Brien from Social Distortion. These 13 songs are a bit slower and more melodic than previous releases and a few are blatantly political: "Hawks and Doves," "Lockdown America," and "Guns of September." The band isn't spitting out Orange County punk with the energy they were once known for, nor are they simply rehasing the style of their early-'80s single "Amoeba," which was an underground hit via the Rodney on the ROQ radio show. O.C. Confidential plainly gives an honest representation of where the Adolescents have been since 1988. Thankfully not rehashing hardcore cliches. ~ Al Campbell, All Music Guide
'Live at the House of Blues'
Release Date 2/24/2004
Tracks 21
Label Kung Fu
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Return to the Black Hole'
Release Date 9/23/1997
Tracks 17
Label Triple X
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Return to the Black Hole once again shows that reunions can be as hot hot hot as Guatemala in July -- if the right lineup is reconstructed. And that's a key. This December 1989 show at the Country Club in the L.A. Valley town of Reseda featured all five original Adolescents members that had originally blitzed Tinseltown with the classic, self-titled first LP and the Welcome to Reality EP eight years before. Not only does Return present a group of not-so-adolescent late twenty-somethings who play their instruments better than in the band's old days -- the sheer glee of firing off together again is evident. This rips. This shreds. This blasts. You don't even need to know that this group helped kick off the second wave of punk in Southern California; having initially been outsold only by the Dead Kennedys, they were as popular as Circle Jerks, Black Flag, T.S.O.L., Youth Brigade, Channel 3, Agent Orange, and the young Social Distortion and Bad Religion. All you have to do is take in the might of the soaring leads more or less pioneered by Rikk Agnew and his brother Frank, even more thick and stinging live, and you understand. The Agnews' string munchings roar through the best songs here: the majestic "No Way," the manic "Who Is Who," the martial "Welcome to Reality," and the epics "Creatures" and "Kids of the Black Hole." Throughout, the Agnews' devilish sense of melody is well-served by Tony Cadena's guttural growl. And though it's hard to stand his mates way off on the key harmony of "Amoeba," it's the only rust the quintet shows. In the end, the only bad thing about this CD is how bad you'll want to see, and not just hear, this loud, proud concert. ~ Jack Rabid, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
There are those who feel that an Adolescents record without Tony Cadena (aka Tony Adolescent, Tony Montana and, later in the reformed ADZ, Tony Reflex) isn't worthy of the name, but 1988's Balboa Funzone is entertaining despite his absence. Guitarist Rikk Agnew and bassist Steve Soto take on vocal and songwriting duties, separately, giving the album an appealingly varied sound that ranges from the anthemic rocker "Just Like Before," to the engagingly loose, Johnny Thunders-like "It's Tattoo Time." Best of the lot are the two entirely different tunes named after the album title, the smoking hardcore "Balboa Funzone (Riot at the Beach)," and the much poppier, '60s-inspired "Balboa Funzone (It's in Your Touch)." Worst of the lot is a sloppy, basically pointless cover of John Lennon's "Instant Karma." Although there's little that truly stands out besides Agnew's anti-drug anthem "Alone Against the World," the album is so consistently rocking and good-humored that it's a more entertaining listen than their uneven earlier records. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The first and best wave of L.A. punk bands from 1977-1979 all broke up under-documented and unsigned, with the exception of X, the Germs, and, to a lesser extent, the Plugz. But the legacy of incredible pioneers such as the Weirdos, Dils, Controllers, and Screamers was the wide success of the harder, faster, younger bands that followed. The interest the 1977 bands awakened not only inspired the formation of Black Flag, Circle Jerks, T.S.O.L., Social Distortion, Agent Orange, Fear, the Adolescents, and others, but helped create a national market, enabling the newer bands to find labels, put out albums, and tour regularly. The Adolescents were perhaps the first of this second wave to put out an LP widely distributed throughout the U.S., selling well over five digits in 1981 (following on the heels of San Francisco's Dead Kennedys, who broke the doors open with their immortal Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables the previous year). Produced by Middle Class' Mike Patton, the debut from these five Orange County kids established the mid-tempo, punk-pop "Southern Cal sound," led by the long, great, pummeling, Johnny Thunders-derived solos of the two Agnew brothers, Rikk and Frank. These soaring, ripping parts still sound great today. As important, songs such as the anthemic "No Way," the classic "Amoeba," the schizophrenic "Kids of the Black Hole," and the glorious "Creatures" endure precisely because they're not just aggressive and speedy: they're super-catchy, heavy-riffing rock & roll, proving again that punk was the true heir to the likes of Chuck Berry, Larry Williams, Bo Diddley, and Eddie Cochran. For the longest while, L.A. teenagers had the spirit, verve, moxie, and zeal to play charged, zippy punk. Hundreds of other bands formed right as the Adolescents recorded, such as Bad Religion, Shattered Faith, Youth Brigade, Aggression, M.I.A., and Channel 3! In so doing, L.A. helped resist the diluted explosion of thrash hardcore that swept the rest of the U.S., particularly on the East Coast. ~ Jack Rabid, All Music Guide
'Brats in Battalions'
Release Date 1/1/1992
Tracks 13
Label Triple X Entertainment
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
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
What The Critics Say
The title says it all, even if the liner notes don't quite indicate where one set of shows ends and the other begins. Capturing the two major existences of the original band during the '80s, in hyperbrattish debut-album days and slightly more calm (but only just) Balboa Fun Zone times, in all cases the Adolescents rip through things with energy and attitude to burn, and come out winners each time. Fidelity isn't always the best, but it's much better than many tapes out there, with more emphasis on the treble than anything (though Soto's underrated bass-playing abilities come out more clearly here than on the original album, actually!). Unsurprisingly starting with a rip-roaring take on the deathless "Amoeba," the 1981 tracks capture the fivesome (average age: 18) kicking out the jams with the best of them, with a brace of tracks (including a not-bad snarl through Iggy's "I Got a Right") rapidly disposed of one after the other, following terse introductions, if any. The versions of the three songs from the Welcome to Reality EP sound much more fun than the studio takes, so losing Rikk Agnew before the recording of that release really did have an effect. The 1986 performances throw in a couple of tunes from Balboa, but otherwise revisit the first-album days with spirit, not to mention including some funny between-song asides (introductory words: "Hi! We're the Bangles!"). The renamed Tony Montana adds a great little essay about the history of the band with the liner notes, including some classic stories (being beaten up in high school for singing in a punk band, for one) with the basic history. As both slice of life and straight-up music, Live is a keeper. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
