I anxiously put the Cobra Starship CD into my player because if the rest of this album was even half as cheesy as their theme song to Snakes on a Plane, then I was going to be sold. So the first track entitled “Being From Jersey Means Never Having to Say Your Sorry” starts to play and I get slapped in the face with some kind of emo, acoustic guitar strumming crap. What the Hell? That’s not the Cobra Starship I know…from the one song of theirs I actually heard only accidentally because it was playing at the end of a movie I saw a few months ago.



Fortunately that initial dip into James Blunt territory was mercifully brief, however the exaggeratedly long titles continue with “Send My Love to the Dance Floor, I’ll See You in Hell (Mr. DJ).” You know when the title of your song is a sentence onto itself than you may be taking matters to their outmost extreme. But long title names don’t tell you anything about the music, just the degree of pretension that the band holds themselves up to.



Try as they might Cobra Starship (also previously known as Starship Disco) just can’t recapture the incidental, tacky charm of “Bring It”, but Lord knows that they try their best to get there. The third song on the album, “The Church of Hot Addiction”, shows a band with a great of melodic skill and a working knowledge of solid rock anthem making; you can almost hear yourself taking lead from the band and chanting “The night is electric.” Too bad the band couldn’t keep up the momentum because cracks in the finish appear with “The Kids are All F***ed Up” (I do so enjoy a band that knows how to sensor itself). This tune sort of reminded me of other examples of when sometimes silly bands try and get serious; the melody’s turned low, the production tricks are kept tp a minimal and the vocalist puts on an air of quiet concern. I don’t buy it though, this is not that band.



“It’s Warmer in the Basement” picks up the tempo again and the album seems to really hit a stride with a solid rock out followed by the precisely named “Keep It Simple”, which is terrifically toe-tapping and an easily digestible slice of pop rock. Of course the centerpiece, buried at track eight, is “Bring It”, although I thought that the absence of the Samuel L. Jackson opening left something wanting on the album version. Easily the best track though is the giddily-fun mall punk sound of “Pop-Punk is Soooo ’05”, the guitar work is elevated by guest star Joe Trohman of Fall Out Boy as the Starship savagely send-up the likes of Simple Plan.



Feel free to accuse me of drinking the Kool-Aid, but I do declare that aside from a few missteps, there is something about Cobra Starship that just catches the ear. Anyone that can turn Snakes on a Plane into a light and frothy party tune deserves applause and a second listen. So long as they lay off the “dare-we-try-and-be-soulful” emo guitar and the exhausting titles, they just might go places.



Being from New Jersey Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry

Send My Love To The Dancefloor, I'll See You In Hell (Hey Mister DJ)

The Church Of Hot Addiction

The Kids Are All Fucked Up

It's Warmer In The Basement

Keep It Simple

It's Amateur Night At The Appollo Creed!

Bring It (Snakes on a Plane)

The Ballad Of Big Poppa And Diamond Girl

Pop-Punk Is Sooooo '05

You Can't Be Missed If You Never Go Away