So Long...

This is review on NOFX' new album So Long And Thanks For All The Shoes. Although it was supposed to come out on Nov 11 1997, album came out earlier in Europe, in Croatia Oct 31. I bought it the same day cause I hardly waited to hear it. I got to admit it was worth waiting for this album to come out. It's not like Heavy Petting Zoo, nor Fuck The Kids as some thought it would be. It's faster than Heavy Petting Zoo and slower than Fuck The Kids. But it rocks. It's more like rock than punk and one song is even some sorta ska. The cover looks like Neopolitan ice cream with chocolate (brown), vanilla (yellow) and strawberry (pink). I still don't know what are those little green pieces where the title is written. Fat Mike probably likes reading Douglas Adams cause one book he wrote is named So long and thanks for all the fish. They changed the last word to shoes because of all the shoes that are thrown at them during the concerts. So here is something about the songs, in order on the album (here are the lyrics):




  1. It's My Job To Keep Punk Rock Elite - a good song, only beginning sounds like The Brews from I Heard They Suck Live!.
  2. Kids Of The K-hole - an average NOFX song by it's speed and everything else.
  3. Murder The Government - the beginning is slower than one from Fuck The Kids and even though the cover says it has more lyrics, it has less. I think one from Fuck The Kids is better.
  4. Monosyllabic Girl - nice song, it's more like rock. The theme of the song is pretty original and it rules.
  5. 180 Degrees - it really sounds nice, it's not fast or anything, but it's nice. It's saying how world sucks nowadays.
  6. All His Suits Are Torn - another slow, rock song.
  7. All Outta Angst - nothing special. This last for songs sound similar.
  8. I'm Telling Tim - it's almost the same as one from Fuck The Kids. It's better, though.
  9. Champs Elysées - rules. I like this song most. Its lyrics are in French. On their European tour they sang more like the original, and it was better, but this one is good too.
  10. Dad's Bad News - this song sounds like Nirvana, like some grunge.
  11. Kill Rock Stars - Can't change the world by hating men. That's it!
  12. Eat The Meek - some sorta ska. It sucks on my opinion. Like listening to first Bob Marley's song.
  13. The Desperations Gone - finally one song more like punk. This song really rocks and it's best song on the album.
  14. Flossing A Dead Horse - instrumental, lotta El Hefe's Trumpet. It's interesting.
  15. Quart In Session - one of the best songs, I like the lyrics much. Music is really good as well.
  16. Falling In Love - is this some irony? I'm not sure. If it's not, since when NOFX sings about love? Don't they have anything better to sing about? After shorter pause after that song goes another one about that Howie Stern show when he said they have no talent. Now they're making fun of him. The song is instrumental, it's pretty long. At the end they say Congratulations you've made it through the song. I bet you never thought anyone could play something so long.

I think there are several versions of the bonus track. Some CDs don't even have one. If you have different one from that I described, please mail me about it.

In this album they started using a lot of trumpet, probably they're looking for some style not to sound all the time the same, and don't want to get flamed in same way as they did after releasing Heavy Petting Zoo. Anyway, the old NOFX style is gone. I'm not saying music is not good, but it's not NOFX, they should definitly make something like Punk In Drublic or White Trash after this one.
And in the end I recommend buying the CD. It's really worth the money. You can get the CD, cassette and LP at CDNOW for about $16 (CD).