Beantown Boozehounds

Pour Another Round (2009)

GlassPipeMurder

Superficially, the Beantown Boozehounds' Pour Another Round is an extremely catchy, fun blend of Boston street punk and Americanized Celtic rock. The track list is diverse, the musicianship is solid, and the songs pack a nice punch. But there's one glaring problem that quickly unfolds and severely hampers any possible potential for greatness.

It begins with the "Beantown Boozehounds." It follows with Pour Another Round. And between "Going Down the Bar," "We'll Be Drinking" and "D.U.I." it becomes painfully clear that this band is nearly incapable of making music that doesn't revolve around the consumption of alcohol. Of the 12 songs that populate Pour Another Round, every single one is either exclusively devoted to drinking, or mentions some form of drunken debauchery in passing. It's an obsession that essentially runs parallel to that of Afroman and the chronic bubonic, while the object of fascination here is the fermented fluid flowing from any variety of bottles and cans. It's really a shame, because most of the tunes here are actually very good musically, but the absurdity of their infatuation is downright distracting. Furthermore, it's not even an original subject. So many Boston bands sing about alcohol, it's practically become clichéd. The band goes from barely mentioning "passing out every night" and "drinking ‘til we're blind" in the poppy opener "On the Road" to devoting an entire track to recounting nearly a calendar day of drinking, "The 19th Hour." The most egregious blunder is the peppy sing-along "D.U.I." whose unsettling levity lies in stark contrast to the realities of millions (including the author of this review) who have been negatively affected by the consequences of drunk driving.

If you think about alcohol so much that it permeates nearly every thought and situation at hand, this is the album for you. If you rank alcohol anywhere lower on your list of priorities, you may still enjoy the catchy melodies of Pour Another Round. And if you're straight-edge, the only reasonable use for this CD would be as a coaster for your cup of water.