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Album Details

• Artist: Common Rider
• Album: This Is Unity Music
• Label: Hopeless
• Year of Release: 2002
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2003-03-27

You may remember the name Jesse Michaels as a member of the groundbreaking punk band Operation Ivy. While his buddies Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman when on to form the equally as impressive Rancid, Jesse laid low for many years. In fact, he almost took a decade off from any music whatsoever but in 1999 he got the band known as Common Rider together with a couple friends from Screeching Weasel and Squirtgun to play with him. They put out a release on Panic Button/Lookout but he wasn’t completely satisfied with the result so he signed the band onto Hopeless Records in hopes of more exposure. Don’t expect to hear Operation Ivy here but there are indeed the odd times when you are reminded of the power of Michaels old band. Common Rider is really accessible and fun. They hit on a few “unity� issues, just like Operation Ivy but the music is not as in-your-face as anything Operation Ivy ever did. Jesse still uses ska as a building block but adds a lot more pop feel to it. There are times when he uses straight ahead rock to grab your attention. It’s always hard to follow-up a band that was so influential. Everyone compares your current work to that in the past. If this were anyone else, they would be praised. Unfortunately, Jesse may only be remembered for his contributions to Operation Ivy. I still enjoyed This Is Unity Music, regardless.

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