I've been tampering my expectations for 2022 after 2021 turned out to be nothing more than a bad sequel to 2020. That said, any year that affords me the opportunity to write about The Ergs! (at least) three times sure seems promising. Out today, the 7" Time and the Season finds The Ergs! back on Dirtnap Records, the label that released their second studio album and first compilation album. It's also the band's first new release since 2016's triumphant comeback EP Goddamn Death Dedication. So basically, this is a really big deal. Public displays of elation are well within reason and ought to be expected.
After many years of study and deliberation, I have reached the conclusion that The Ergs! were the greatest pop-punk band of the 2000s. And it's not even close. The Ergs! were the Cadillac Eldorado, and whoever was #2 was a set of steak knives. At the peak of their game (in my estimation, The Ben Kweller EP through dorkrockcorkrod), The Ergs! were the best band on the planet. And so it delights me that Time and the Season reminds me so much of that "classic" period of The Ergs! The press release mentions it's "like they never went away", and that is 100% on-point. "Ultimate Falsetto Book" instantly takes me back to those good old days of the early to mid 2000s. Imagine, if you will, a world in which telephones were used for talking and people could agree that Nazis were bad. And if you were a girl-crazed lonely dude desperately looking for love, it was as if Mikey Erg was singing straight from your soul. I am pleased to discover that the formula holds up splendidly well to my 50-year-old ears. Another original, "Half Empty Strip Mall", employs quite the poignant modern-day metaphor in service of a vintage Ergs! number. The fact that this EP is 50% covers shouldn't dissuade anyone from making a purchase. The Ergs! have always excelled at covers, and here they tackle a couple of stone-cold classics from the 1960s. "Say You're Sorry" was originally recorded by The Remains, one of the most underrated American rock and roll bands of all-time. And of course you would hope that a band that once wrote a song called "Rod Argent" would eventually have a go at The Zombies' "Time of the Season". If you didn't know any better, you could mistake "Say You're Sorry" for an Ergs! original. "Time of the Season" is a little bit more of a straight cover, but the "they make the song their own" cliché certainly applies. And if this rendition leads just one person to discover that Odessey and Oracle is one of the greatest albums ever made, it'll be mission accomplished!
It feels so good to be reviewing The Ergs! again! And this is just review number one of three! In the near future, I will have much to say about the band's new country EP Renovations and the long-awaited vinyl release of its second compilation album Hindsight is 20/20, My Friend Vol. 2: OK, Enough Reminiscing (on the legendary Creep Records!). I would have been happy with any new Ergs! music, but Time and the Season isn't just any Ergs! release. It's a freaking excellent Ergs! release! I'll delve further into where "Ultimate Falsetto Book" ranks in the Ergs! canon when I review Hindsight is 20/20, My Friend Vol. 3 in ten years.
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