Less Than Jake

Greetings & Salutations

Shock

It’s somewhat frightening to think that bands like Less Than Jake can carve out a 20 year career when they tend to play all their cards with the first and second albums.

But, to my surprise, Greetings & Salutations is a strong release. The knitting has been stuck to, it’s the same brand of pop-punk that gets called ska-punk or ska-influenced because there are horns in the mix. But given where Sum 41 and Good Charlotte took the post-Green Day pop-punk sludge it is bands like Less Than Jake and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones that can, on some level, hold their heads high.

The other reason Greetings & Salutations works is because of quality control. This is in fact two limited tour-edition EPs grafted together with two new songs. In 2012 the band travelled around playing its hits with Greetings From Less Than Jake and Season Greetings From Less Than Jake available on the door.

Now you can own all of those songs in one place – handy for fans that didn’t make it to the gigs.

But there’s something to be said for that move – two separate EPs now bound, rounded out to make a decent full-lengther. Quality control.

There’s not a dud on here – yes, it’s all bright and shiny and happy and almost cartoony and perennially teenager-ish – but you knew that when you started reading this review, or when you started (or finished) listening to Less Than Jake.

I can’t claim, by any stretch, to be a fan but I’ve enjoyed this far more than I figured I might. I was expecting less.