What set apart from any number of other energetic Irish bands was the sheer physical force of their performances, the punky swagger of their personalities, and 's considerable gifts as a songwriter. Unfortunately, none of these qualities comes through very clearly on their first album, . While are in good form here, the production (by ) is thin and lacks the body or nuance to capture the finer details of the performances, robbing this recording of the fire the group would display on their later albums. And it's clear that had not yet fully matured as a songwriter; there are a handful of superb songs here, such as and but some of the others suggest was still learning how to fit all his ideas into his songs. is good and rowdy fun, but on , would prove they were capable of a lot more than that. ~ Mark Deming