Street Dogs - Fading American Dream

*=Staff's pick	Common People Not Without A Purpose* Fatty Decency Police Power In A Union* Tobe Has A Drinking Problem Shards Of Life* Sell Their Lies Rights To Your Soul Hardluck Kid Fading American Dream Final Transmission Katie Bar The Door*

Genre	Punk Rock	Mike McColgan	Vocals
Tracks	13	Marcus Hollar	Guitar
Runningtime	50 Min.	Tobe Bean	Guitar
Label	DRT Entertainment	Johnny Rioux	Bass
Release	09 Oct. 2006	Joe Sirois	Drums
Country	USA	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Pennywise, The Clash, Toy Dolls, Green Day

Boston punks Street Dogs formed in 2002 and with Fading American Dream they release their third album, and this is a band with strong opinions. Vocalist Mike McColgan did not only performed with Dropkick Murphy's in the early days but is also a war veteran from the Gulf war, two things with nothing in common but that reflects in the music of the Street Dogs.

Punk is not my field of expertise, but I had my periods of listening to it and still have even if my knowledge in the area has to be considered slim. However, as I can see it, Street Dogs are shattered between the more old school punk as well as the one that came with the second wave that exploded in the nineties with bands like Bad Religion, NOFX and Pennywise. But it does not end with that since Street Dogs also imply a touch of Ireland as well as Green Day, although they stay within the frames of what I like to call punk and they manage to tie the album together. I can exemplify this by comparing the two songs Not Without A Purpose and Decency Police. Where the first is a fast and catchy punk tune filled with spirit that is exactly how I love this music in the nineties and more mainstream vein while Decency Police is a raw and with a fist in the face attitude old school punk tune that is fuelled on aggression and frustration.

The guys imply hard topics in their lyrics as reflecting on war and political issues, in true punk manor I might add, with lyrics with a more light tone and with a more humorous sense. The song Power In The Union almost comes out as propaganda for the union in a song that makes you want to hook arms and sway back and forth as this could probably fit as an Irish drinking song. One member from The Pogues is appearing as guest on the album, but the information I have doesn't reveal in which song, but I would easily put all my money on one of the album highlights in Shards Of Life. The melody of the song goes in the same vein as I associate with the Pogues and with the addition of accordion and flute the resemblance is very strong. The last song I would like to mention to further demonstrate the wide range of Street Dogs is Katie Bar The Door. Yet another fast song with a catchy refrain and it shines with the same playfulness as you get from The Toy Dolls.

Fading American Dream is not the album of the year but it is nevertheless a solid effort and at least Street Dogs has managed to awaken the sleeping punk in me.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
6	6	6

Summary
6 chalices of 10 - Thomas