Rikk Agnew - All by Myself

Snarkily titled after Eric Carmen's '70s solo hit but thankfully not featuring a cover of that song, Agnew's solo debut actually lives up to its title completely, as he plays every instrument on the record, creating a great one-man band sound (with the help of Adolescents producer Thom Wilson) as a result. Possessed of a good mid-range punk voice -- no sneering or bellowing, not really singing but not just talking over the songs either -- he creates the same basic rush he brought to his early stints in The Adolescents and the faster Christian Death songs he worked on, but with a slightly poppier bent at points that perfectly balances sass and strength, while not being afraid to experiment from time to time either (as the lengthy album closer "Section 8" shows). Read More