Toxic Youth

In 1984, the Young Fresh Fellows booked time at Conrad Unos cozy Egg Studio in Seattle to cut their first album, The Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest, when they were indeed young, fresh, and full of fun. A mere 33 years later, Conrad Uno announced he was closing Egg in favor of a well-earned retirement, and the Young Fresh Fellows didnt want their favorite recording facility to shut down without a last hurrah. They booked the last three days on Unos schedule with just three songs ready, and walked out with 17 tracks in various states of completion; a dozen of them made the cut for the bands 2020 release Toxic Youth. Having survived for more than three decades, its no wonder that the Fellows sound older and more seasoned than they did on Fabulous Sounds. They also seem more somber; the sense of humor that has always been part of their music hasnt gone away, but Toxic Youth sometimes suggests a good-natured wake, as the guys look back while a part of their history and hometown fades away. Gear Summer is upbeat as all get-out, yet the lyrics deal with a variety of bad news, Never Had It Bad finds them looking at their neer-do-well neighbors with both annoyance and a hint of envy, Alien Overlords is the sound of a man eager to escape a place where he no longer belongs, and Alone in a Bus is a low-key meditation on loneliness. If the Young Fresh Fellows were ever to make a midlife crisis album, Toxic Youth is it, and its worth noting it was recorded a few months before a stroke nearly cost YFF leader Scott McCaughey his life in November 2017 (which explains in part why there was a nearly three-year wait before this album saw the light of day). However, tunes like Shes By Request and Astondale make it clear they still know how to make a good time heard, and for all the bittersweet memories in the finale Bleed Out, its a testimony to why theyre still in the game in a career thats spanned five decades -- they still love rock & roll with all their hearts, and theyre still pretty great at it. McCaughey and Kurt Bloch can summon poppy tunes, punky energy, and a snarky joy with ease, bassist Jimmy Sangster and drummer Tad Hutchinson are a gleeful and adaptable rhythm section, and if they sound different in the 21st century, the qualities that made them easy to love have not changed. The passage of time can be a sobering thing, and Toxic Youth speaks to that, but it also reminds us that the wisdom that comes with age doesnt have to cancel out joy. As long as these guys can still make albums like this, they have no need to be bummed out for long. ~ Mark Deming