Reviews

Before The Re-Issues, Token Entry’s entire catalogue was practically inaccessible. Unless you wanted to track down old re-releases off Go Kart and pay 40 bucks for them, the music was lost. Forget about finding The Weight of the World at all. Deciding that did Token Entry no justice, I Scream Records decided to reissue Jaybird and The Weight of the World, released in 1988 and 1990 respectively. While it’s great to see these albums put together on one CD (for the price of only one CD), the two seem like they were made by totally different bands. Jaybird sounds like what I expected from a late 80s New York City hardcore band; while the second sounds like Red Hot Chili Peppers ran into Run DMC and made an album.
 
Token Entry made three albums and one EP in the span of their existence, from 1980 to around 1990. The first LP, From Beneath The Streets re-recorded the songs from the original EP with the band’s most consistent line-up, including vocalist Tim Chunks, who later basically launched The Bouncing Souls’ career. The two albums included on this release followed From Beneath The Streets. I assume they were put together on Re-Issues because both are produced by Bad Brains guitarist Dr. Know.
 
Jaybird strikes a balance between NYHC and skate-punk. The songs on Jaybird are played with frenetic speed, allowing for the usual slowdown about two-thirds through each song. Token Entry’s lyrics decry violence and baseless hatred boiling within the community. The positive perspective adds momentum to the songs about skateboarding, capitalism and even prostitution. There’s just a hint of the 80s style solo guitar and funky beats that will come.
 
The Weight of the World starts with track 11, “Revolution,” which sees a huge change in vocal styling, recording quality, and musical direction. The first half of Re-Issues sounds like it was recorded in a basement, while the second half has the quality of a professional studio. However, the recording quality works in the favor of each release.
 
The vocals completely change from sung to almost entirely rapped. I assume Tim Chunks did vocals on both albums because he’s credited as the sole vocalist, but I’m surprised how different he sounds from one to the other. The bass changes from following the guitar pattern to being popped and funky; the guitar is generally slower and more varied.
 
Songs like “Doing It Again” sound like an updated and cleaner version of the band’s earlier work, with a little more emphasis on guitar skill. But songs like “Don’t Want To Go Back,” “Brian and Tim’s,” and “Lucky Seven” really morph funk, rock, and punk in a way I haven’t heard before. Even though a bunch of bands have experimented with combinations of these genres, I don’t think any integrated the three as well as Token Entry. The funky bass lines, combined with loud punk guitars and rapped lyrics are perfectly balanced. No one element dominates over the other, giving these songs a unique sound.
 
The problem with Re-Issues is that these two albums are so different sounding, it almost creates a disconnect in the listening experience. Time-wise the Re-Issues CD clocks in at close to an hour, so I’m not sure they could fit all three albums on one CD, but a complete discography seems more appropriate. I don’t know why I Scream decided to release these two, yet leave out the band’s first full-length From Beneath The Streets, which is currently out-of-print and largely unavailable. Perhaps I Scream was trying to showcase the band’s whole sound, but it almost seems to me that putting the first two albums together and letting Weight of the World stand on its own would be more appropriate. After all, Weight of the World really is the standout on here.
 
Token Entry was obviously an influential band (especially according to the blurbs in the front of the lyric booklet from Civ of Gorilla Biscuits, Ray Cappo, of Youth of Today, Toby Morse of H20 and Bryan Kienlen of the Souls). They also reflected some of the more up-and-coming elements of rock at the time. Token Entry is well-deserving of being released and their album is well-deserving of any hardcore fan’s cash.