Tony Sly has been heading up San Jose’s most famous punk band for more than 20 years, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that he’s used his solo career to branch out musically (though he hasn’t strayed too far thematically). The real payoff for No Use For A Name fans comes when he applies his new musical interests to some of the band’s classic songs, as he first did in 2004 on his split with Lagwagon’s Joey Cape, Acoustic. That record kind of served notice to fans about Sly’s intentions, and launched his solo career. Now he’s returned to the NUFAN catalogue once again with Acoustic Volume 2, which was released this week.
Once again, Sly rearranges No Use For A Name tunes, while Cape revisits Lagwagon. Besides the five acoustic versions of their respective bands’ songs, both contribute one new song each.
First off, this record simply sounds a lot better than their first split. Maybe they took more time with it, or maybe they’ve just gotten better at producing acoustic arrangements, but it sounds fantastic. Sly in particular has a knack for choosing NUFAN songs that will lend themselves naturally to this type of treatment. The five songs he picks here featured some of his most soulful deliveries on the original versions.
“Black Box,” for instance, doesn’t even sound that different than the original—it’s more deliberate and lush, and the beat is turned way down, but nothing has changed about the core intent of the song.
“Under the Garden” is another good example—just imagine that the original didn’t turn into a blazing punk song 15 seconds in, and you can imagine what he did here.
“Soulmate” and “Chasing Rainbows” both show how an acoustic version can be just as upbeat as the original, even without the layers of electric riffs.
“Pre-Medicated Murder” is the only song that doesn’t translate well, which is surprising because the original had a nice orchestral opening that Sly tried to build on here. But without the double-time beat of the original, the song comes off like a labored, overly long throwaway. The other versions show how Sly’s songwriting talents often get buried under a pile of sound, but “Pre-Medicated Murder” wasn’t one of his best.
The new song, “Liver Let Die,” is a much better showcase for Sly’s style—catchy and upbeat, but melancholy at the same time. He has a talent for building a certain sense of dread, but then letting go of it mid-song and throwing himself headlong into hope, refusing not to celebrate even in the face of certain defeat. It’s one of his best solo songs so far, and the highlight of the record.
.Tony Sly Uses More No Use For A Name Songs for New Acoustic Release
