With ‘So Long Astoria‘ perhaps the most anticipated album release scheduled for 2003, The Ataris have gone and whet our apetite’s by releasing an Aussie only EP to show us what we can expect from the forthcoming full lengther. The only thing is, ‘All You Can Ever Learn Is What You Already Know’ is a bit of a disappointment. With only the awesome ‘Takeoffs and Landings’ anything like The Ataris of old, this is definitely one for the collector only.
With six tracks, four of which are acoustic based efforts, and an enhanced section of video for you PC, it’s not groundbreaking stuff. But being an absolutely massive Ataris fan, it’s still something I just had to get my hands on. And when the opening bars of ‘Takeoffs and Landings’ roll out, a song which does feature on ‘So Long Astoria‘, you get that warm feeling only The Ataris give off. Adopting a more mature lyrical stance, similar to that which was found on the ‘End Is Forever’ album, it drops the ‘boy-loves-girl’ style that Kris Roe is famed for in favour of a song that shows how much the vocalist misses his daughter Starla. It’s cleverly written and maintains all the gorgeous melodies and poppiness that makes the band so great in my opinion. Of course it also carries off all the lyrical details which help to paint such a vivid picture with the “remember to shut off all of your electronic devices” line typical of Mr Roe. If the rest of the new record is as good as this ‘So Long Astoria‘ could well break the band big.
Unfortunately the majority of the album falls by the wayside from here on in. ‘Eight Of Nine‘ was a song discarded from the ‘So Long Astoria‘ sessions and it’s not too difficult to see why. It’s ok, but miles away from the genius that was ‘Blue Skies…’ and would probably have also seemed inferior to many of the songs on the ‘End Is Forever’ record too. Still, it’s nowhere near as much of a departure as the acoustic led ‘Teenager Of The Year’, a track recorded in a hotel room (number 301 to be exact). It’s a strange song with Kris’ vocals barely audible at times and the song never really seems to get going. Of course it would sound a hell of a lot better in the studio, and probably better still if it was beefed up with an electric guitar sound. But perhaps we will never find out. Not one to skip, but be prepared to listen with an open mind.
‘1*15*96’ is an Ataris anthem. Taken from the awesome ‘Blue Skies…’ album, it’s a track which sums up exactly what made the band so good in the first place. Recorded on the same night as the previous track, it’s done acoustically and still works brilliantly, even if it does sound strange to begin with. If you haven’t already checked out the original version do so now – if you’re an Ataris fan you owe it to yourself just to get this EP for this version, it will probably make all those memories of how you fell in love with the band flood back – or maybe that’s just me. ‘Pretty Pathetic’ is a poor song, just Kris and a piano, and I don’t like it one bit. Perhaps it’s best for him to get it out of his system now rather than on a proper album, but if this is the way the band are going, I guess it could be the death of them. Devoid of any kind of genuine emotion, the song is just pure dirge and sounds like something that would suit someone’s funeral. Definitely one to skip. The final track, an acoustic version of ‘Fast Times At Dropout High’, a track from ‘End Is Forever’, is another must have for any collector, but the sound quality is appalling, worse than many bootleg songs you may have of the band. Still, it’s a quality song by a quality band and one that you have to hear.
All in all this EP isn’t all that bad, but to your average punk it’s not a starting point I would recommend. There are some fantastic moments, but these are evened out by the downright crap moments that litter the record. One for the collector if you can get it on the cheap, but I sure hope that ‘So Long Astoria‘ is a lot better than this. However, I guarantee it will make you dust down your old Ataris albums and whack them on full blast…
Paul