Reviews

Terrible. This album is just fucking terrible...

...

I jest, of course. What could this album get other than a perfect score? It deserved it back in '89 and has become a cornerstone of the ska-punk genre since. The band was over and done with after three years, one full-length, an EP and some compilation tracks, but the influence of Operation Ivy can still be heard in countless bands today, not the least of which is the band Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman formed in 1991, Rancid.

The Hellcat version of Energy is essentially a remastered re-release of a re-release, as the album contains the 19 original tracks from the LP, and both the Hectic EP and tracks from the Turn It Around compilation. Punk classics like "Knowledge," "Unity," "Smiling" and "I Got No" are all there. And so many of these songs are just as relevant, if not more so, today than they were nearly two decades ago.

The remastering doesn't make the album much better, but it sure as hell doesn't make it worse. It could be argued that the re-release is somewhat unnecessary, maybe even capitalizing off an old name, but ultimately, the Epitaph distribution will put the album in more hands, which is really all that matters.

It's evident that the kids need some good music nowadays (yeah, okay, grumpy old punker), and maybe, just maybe, it will continue to inspire a new generation of musicians. For the new punk rocker, to one looking for a refresher in the classics, to the pit veteran looking to re-experience a quintessential album from the history of punk, here we go again.