Take Two: Against Me!, 'The Original Cowboy'

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WHEN A LONGTIME indie band finally makes a jump to the majors, at some point all those independent singles, albums and unreleased demos will be put out for the benefit of the fans, new and old.

Well, maybe "benefit" isn't the right word.

Against Me!'s "The Original Cowboy" is an eight-track compilation of old demos, put out by its former label, Fat Wreck Chords. The tracks were recorded before Against Me's second album, "As the Eternal Cowboy," which came out four years before its major-label debut, "New Wave" (Sire).

Though "New Wave" received tons of positive press (SPIN Magazine called it the best album of 2007) and garnered many new admirers, it had a solid group of old hardcore fans calling foul for "selling out." Singer Tom Gabel even acknowledged former fans' abandonment of the band: "I find it completely frustrating and off-putting, and it turns me off of the punk scene really because people are very closed-minded," he told ThePunkSite.com in 2007.

But with "The Original Cowboy," it doesn't seem like either new or old Against Me! enthusiasts will find anything to like.

Barely 22 minutes long, "The Original Cowboy" includes many tracks that are pretty much identical to the ones on "As the Eternal Cowboy" -- "Mutiny on the Electronic Bay," "T.S.R. (This Shit Rules)" and "Rice and Bread," for example, are basically the exact same songs, with the only differences being that they don't sound as glossy as their "Eternal Cowboy" counterparts.

In fact, there are only four small changes from "Eternal Cowboy" actually worth noting. First is the exclusion of "Sink, Florida, Sink," which was one of the singles from "Eternal Cowboy" but isn't included here. The next change is the album's opener, "Brief Yet Triumphant Introduction / Cliche Guevarra," which combines "Eternal Cowboy"'s "Brief Yet Triumphant Intermission" and "Cliche Guevarra" into one track. Jaw-dropping.

Next comes "Cavalier Eternal," which is essentially the same break-up song (with Gabel sounding just as genuinely angsty on the lines "This just isn't love / It's just the remorse of a loss of a feeling / Even if I stayed / It just wouldn't be the same"), but with more of a folk sound than the reggae-esque tinges on "Eternal Cowboy." Thrilling.

And the last difference comes with "You Look Like I Need a Drink / Turn Those Clapping Hands Into Angry Balled Fists," which -- big shocker -- s the same trick the band pulled with "Brief Yet Triumphant Introductio / Cliche Guevarra." It's a single 7:02 track instead of the two separate songs they are on "Eternal Cowboy." Mind-boggling.

So what's the point in listening to "The Original Cowboy?" There isn't one. Even Gabel admitted that "part of me that feels foolish for ever recording these songs a second time."

There's a part of the group that should feel foolish for releasing the songs a second time, too.

Written by Express contributor Roxana Hadadi
Photo courtesy Janette Beckman