Album Review

Broadway Calls – Be All That You Can’t be

• 7th Aug 2009

Anyone looking to indulge and embrace their inner child punk? Take this term literally, as I do mean ‘child’ punk.

‘Be all that you can’t be’, is a less aggressive form of punk music that is kinder on the ears but less edgy- the term pop-punk would fit aptly here. Complete with snotty teenage temper-tantrum vocals and scratchy riffs, this is the epitome of pop-punk, so if Green Day is your kind of thing then I’m sure you can extend that liking to Broadway Calls. Weightiness is given to the song through politically charged lyrics, (‘you smile and you pretend as you hand guns out to my friends’), but this kind of lyric in punk has been done to death and is more than likely to be seen as clichéd to anyone who’s been around long enough to hear music by Green Day, Sum 41 or Blink 182.

Having said that, the chorus is catchy, against better judgement, and on the plus side is an easily accessible form of punk music…the mere tip of the iceberg if you like. There also appears to be genuine energy radiating off the track that, I would hope, be present on live performances.

‘Jump at Shadows’ is similar in style to the previous, continuing the theme of unashamedly pop-punks, not least with the ‘hey, hey, hey’ of the chorus. Again, there is not much room for sophistication in this particular genre of punk, which can only lead most ‘true’ music fans to scoff at this attempt of making music.

‘Be all that you can’t be’ is pop-punk done at its very best, there are no surprises…that’s it.