Purchasing this at the last Ergs! show, I was kind of taken aback that after promises of a three-song 7", they were selling a three-song 12" for $8. Mikey Erg assured us that it was because the pressing plant could only produce 12"s in time for the last shows, and I have to believe him, as they were charging $8 for their final shows, something they could have easily price-gouged us for.

So what we have here is the Ergs!'s own Abbey Road: their final recorded songs, but not their last songs to be released. Side A treats us to two Mikey songs, "Anthem for a New Amanda" and "...And the True Believers." "Anthem" hosts a nice stop-and-start melody and rolling basslines for the intro / verse breaks / outro, not to mention an awesomely corny organ as the song hits its climax. Lyrically, Mikey is in top form, singing of a lost love...but then, isn't that the M.O. for most Ergs! songs? "...And the True Believers" is a track that could have easily fit in the middle of Jersey's Best Prancers. The most straight-ahead pop-punk song on the EP, it's, not surprisingly, the most catchy song of the trio.

Turning over to Side B we have Jeff Erg's "Piltdown Man." A song that they've been playing live since at least April, it's easily one of Jeff's best songs. It's not a stretch to say Jeff never settled for having standard pop-punk lyrics in his songs. This one uses the paleontological Piltdown Man hoax as a metaphor for finding himself. The oozin' aahs and miniature freak-out at the end is a fitting end to one of the best pop-punk bands of the decade.

Yes, you're paying $1.25 (or more) per minute, but any Ergs! fan would jump at the chance to own this -- not to mention, it has possibly the best cover ever drawn by Mitch Clem.