Bark Like a Dog

Album Review

Screeching Weasel are responsible for some definitive punk classics including Boogada Boogada Boogada! and the Punkhouse EP, but after a while they started to put out too many records, most of which were forgettable. For Bark Like a Dog, a sort-of reunion album after Ben Weasel left the band for a few years to work on the Riverdales, a lame side project, Weasel is back in the business of writing real songs. You can tell he actually sat for a long time (perhaps someone tied him to a chair) and worked on these tunes, because most of them are excellent, ranging from the playground anxiety tune, "Cool Kids," which has a killer organ riff, to a squooshy-sounding ballad where he sings, "Your name is tattooed on my heart and I'll always be true." "(She Got) Electroshocked" pays homage to the Ramones, like about a third of Screeching Weasel's songs, while the actually kind-of sweet "Handcuffed to You" and "Get Off My Back" are among the best softer-edged pop-punk tunes Weasel has ever written.