So Long, Astoria

AMG Review of So Long, Astoria

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

Kris Roe, leader of the Ataris, would seem a little young for nostalgia, but So Long, Astoria (its title referring to Astoria, OR, the town in the 1985 film The Goonies) is his musical version of a memory play, a series of reflections on his youth in the late '70s and '80s. Roe, who grew up in Anderson, IN, and moved to Santa Barbara, CA, to pursue his ock & roll dreams, reminisces fondly about adolescence in songs like "Summer '79" and addresses his own young fans in "My Reply." The Ataris' fourth full-length album of new material and their major-label debut on Columbia Records, So Long, Astoria is, musically, a collection of speed punk tunes, similar to the work of Green Day and blink-182. Roe's lyrical identity makes the band's songs stand out; his sentimentality stands in contrast to the music's aggression. Includes a cover Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer" as a punk anthem, revising the famous line about the "Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac" by referring to Black Flag instead.