Terminal

Smog Veil

3.0

There is one thing that makes Terminal stand out in the wasteland of reissue/reunion albums, its recorded like a documentary.  In between trax there is a little robot lady giving you little bits of information on the band, when and where the songs where recoded; occasionally with some input from the band. Getting that little bit of insight into what was going when the album was made without having to go through the liner notes or look up shit online is a nice touch. It makes it feel exactly like what it is, a brief retrospective into the short career of Pistol Whip. Once you get past the documentary commentary of the album you are left with organ infused punk rock of the late 70's. Just pop enough that I can imagine it making it onto the airwaves of mainstream radio from time to time but they keep just enough of the gritty punk rock swagger to keep the kids into it. The lyrics are someplace in between politics and the mindless chatter of drunken men who want nothing more than another round of beer and the girl in the booth next to them. Pistol Whip embodies a kind of reckless innocence that still holds up well 30 years later. The bits where they scream about Jimmy Carter trying to steal rock and roll gave me a laugh as I looked to see if the old coot was still alive. But other than the occasional dated lyric Terminal stands up as just kick ass rock and roll the kind of thing that never really gets old no matter how many years pass by.