Review: Strawberry Blondes - "Fight Back:
Despite their somewhat cutesy name that might remind some of us of a certain cartoon our sisters used to make us watch in the 1980s, the UK’s Strawberry Blondes play a rough, melodic brand of punk rock that falls somewhere between Rancid and Anti-Flag. Admittedly, much of the album is fairly standard anthemic and slightly sloganeering street-styled punk (see “Social Control,” “Revolution Radio”). However, there are some effective guest spots on Fight Back that give the album some much needed deviation and break up the homogeny a bit. The most significant of such appearances in regards to the album’s variety comes from New York’s King Django of the Stubborn All-Stars and Skinnerbox on the horn-punk number “Manners and Respect.” Joey LaRocca of the Briggs drops by the four-and-a-half-minute “Goodbye Inspiration” to help out a bit on the hooks, though the repetitive formula keeps the track from really flourishing. While there are some straight-ahead punk tracks that stand out among the re...