Chapter Eight, The Golden State

Dutch pop-punks the Heideroosjes have refined their sound to the point that only the occasional song sung in their native tongue (four of the 15 on Chapter Eight: The Golden State, including the bouncy power pop of "Ik Zie Je Later" and the Green Day-like ballad "Ik Ben Niet Bang") betrays that they're not natives of the Gilman Street scene. This album is solid, tuneful pop-punk of the Lookout! Records variety, with echoes of the Mr. T Experience, the Queers, and all the other bands working in that narrow but still surprisingly fruitful style. On the one hand, that does mean that there is little new or different about this album, making it a genial but moderately pointless collection of overfamiliar tunes, but on the other hand, it does mean that, as Yogi Berra supposedly once said, "If you like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you'll like." Particular highlights include the cheerfully snotty "My Funeral" and the good old-fashioned political rant "All Your Government Does."