Streetlight Manifesto
99 Songs of Revolution

Campus Correspondent Review By Karli Petrovic,
Syracuse University

On its official website, Streetlight Manifesto prides itself for seducing ska band haters with a mix of ska and rock with folk, Latin and everything in between. Throughout its new album 99 Songs of Revolution (Victory Records), the group stays true to form, swirling various musical styles into a cohesive whole. Ska lovers will enjoy “Hell” with its extended instrumental introduction and interludes, while jazz fans should gravitate towards “The Troubadour,” a fun ditty about a scorned wife who takes revenge on her cheating husband.

The problem, however, seems to be that the some of the songs mesh together almost too well. The middle tracks run together differing mostly in how fast or slow the scales are played. While the up and down of a song like “Skyscraper” about building up “to tear me down” makes sense, the sound on “Such Great Heights” gets overused, even though the song remains on of the catchiest on the album. Tracks like “Punk Rock Girl” and a cover of “Me and Julio Down by the School Yard” sound similar enough that they fight for space on the same CD. Streetlight goes all out in creating a catchy disc that would indeed do well as the theme song for a revolution, but the band’s third album lacks the originality that draws fans to the band in the first place.