-Take Back Thursdays - The Lawrence Arms “Oh! Calcutta”

I’ll admit, I didn’t get into The Lawrence Arms until a few years ago, but it was an incredible discovery for me. For almost an entire summer, I listened to their fifth album, Oh! Calcutta, on repeat. It was the perfect companion to flying down the road with the windows down and the sun on my face. Pure bliss.

Aside from my personal fondness for this record, it’s a great work of art in its own right, one that I consider to be criminally underrated. I believe Oh! Calcutta deserves a place among the great punk albums. Here’s why.

Right away, “The Devil’s Takin’ Names” kicks this album off with a nod to the effects of addiction. But it also tells you to get the fuck up, wipe away your tears, and keep moving. This track starts the tone off the right way: loud and fast with a hard-hitting instrumental and lyrics that are both cuttingly honest and overwhelmingly energizing.

Speaking of cutting, the next track, “Cut It Up,” couldn't be clearer on what it’s about. I won’t spell it out for you. I do very much like the comparison towards the end of the track of a sinking ship and how the band thanks its listeners for all the love.

“Great Lakes / Great Escapes” is a personal favorite. I dare you to listen to this track and try to keep still. It’s impossible; you just have to tap your foot or headbang to it at the very least. This one continues the theme of being lost in the haze but with a little more control this time around. I think what really separates this one from the previous cuts on the record is that there’s an undeniable revelry in the debauchery and destruction the guys are wreaking on themselves and their surroundings.

“Recovering the Opposable Thumb,” by comparison, is the hangover after the glorious night out when the depression hits and you start questioning all your decisions. “Are we just the mulch and kindling that accrues?” is as telling a line as any I’ve heard. Another, “This is not a celebration of slipping through some crack / This is sloth and devastation and we’re the resulting trash” makes it clear The Lawrence Arms are not advocating for the behavior they’ve described up to this point. They question if it’s even possible for them to pick themselves out of the mud and don’t find an answer. Not yet, at least.

“Beyond the Embarrassing Style” is another very obvious reference to a particular substance. Even more than the last tracks, it follows the sentiment of being strung out to the breaking point and finding your own personal hell in the seeds you’ve sown, but the train is moving and going too fast to get off now. It’s just a matter of time before it completely derails.

“Are You There Margaret? It’s Me, God,” is another favorite because of the absolutely infectious guitar and bass lines. Chris McCaughan and Brendan Kelly’s call-and-response vocals really shine on this track, with McCaughan bringing that abrasive, punk authenticity and Kelly matching it with some comparatively smooth singing. When their vocals are layered on top of each other, they synergize beautifully.

McCaughan takes the lead on “Jumping the Shark,” which gradually builds in intensity. This track feels like a low point and revelation, where The Lawrence Arms really ask what they’re doing with themselves and choose to start fresh. They stay true to that idea on “Lose Your Illusion 1,” where they talk about getting sober and moving on. There’s a genuine sense of hope that maybe, just maybe, they can change for the better.

Source: Epitaph Records

It should be noted that even on the slower tracks, the pace of this album is absolutely blistering. Most songs are kept to just over two minutes and the instrumentals and vocals explosively plow ahead at almost every moment. It’s a really exciting listen that stays true to the ethos of classic 80’s hardcore acts like Black Flag and Adolescents.

Now that the band is open up to the idea of change, “Requiem Revisited” explores some aggressive tendencies and the possible causes of the self-destructive behavior the previous tracks deal with. “Key to the City” shows that they might be on the right path, but it still comes with its own troubles. Sobriety may be a step up from laying messed up in the gutter, but it’s also boring and difficult to maintain. Especially when you’re touring around the country in a punk band. In my mind, the refrain, “gimme the key to the city,” is basically them asking “where’s my goddamn medal for staying clean?”

Kelly’s vocals really shine through on “Old Dogs Never Die,” a track that starts to turn the corner of the difficulties of getting through addiction and rehabilitation. The last verse particularly stands out as a blast of optimism.

But healing is not always a linear process, as you can hear on “Like a Record Player.” It’s not entirely sure if the lyrics here represent a relapse or memories of getting shot up on the road, but it’s a deviation from the earlier tracks and shows the struggle of remembering when things were different.

And speaking of deviations, the penultimate song, “Warped Summer Extravaganza (Major Excellent),” is the clearest outlier on the tracklist. Featuring some country twang, this one is a scathing criticism of the punk festival, Warped Tour. Staying true to what it means to be punk, The Lawrence Arms call out the corporatization of the music and scene they love. It’s clear they’re not perfect people, but they’re for damn sure not sellouts either.

Finishing out the album is “The Rabbit and the Rooster,” which celebrates everything the album’s presented so far — the good, the bad, and the ugly — and determines that it’s time to seize the day and move on to a new era. The closing lyrics couldn’t say it any better: “The memories we set adrift to die / Today is our day.”

Source: punknews.org

If you’re a punk fan, you truly owe it to yourself to listen to Oh! Calcutta. It’s a relatively brief listen at 36 minutes and 14 tracks, and I guarantee the time will fly by. There’s a lot of emotion and heart packed into these songs, and it’s clear The Lawrence Arms poured everything into making them. It’s nothing short of a fantastic achievement that I can’t recommend strongly enough.