Discograffiti: ALL
Hey kids. Who’s ready for another edition of Discograffiti?!? I know I am. I’ve been working on this one, off and on, for about a week.
This time around, I’m going to be working my way through the band that is guilty of not being the Descendents: ALL!
The band ALL formed in Los Angeles from the ashes of the iconic pop-punk band Descendents after their singer Milo decided to quit music to pursue his of being a biochemist and go back to college. The rest of the band decided to move forward with a new name and ALL was born. They have gone through 3 singers and have relocated a few times.
To date, the band has released 8 studio albums (9 if you count a collaboration with a former Descendents member), 1 EP, 1 compilation album, and 2 live albums.
I really like this band. While the Descendents are one of my all time favorite bands, I have to admit that I prefer them over ALL. Unlike my friend Dave of Oklahoma Lefty. He prefers ALL and that is fine. We tend to have friendly debates over this from time to time. But really, ALL is a great band and has put out some really amazing material. They deserve their place in punk rock history.
So, speaking of all that great material, let’s dig in!
Allroy Sez
Released in March 1988 by Cruz Records (an imprint of SST Records). Produced by Bill Stevenson and Richard Andrews. Recorded at Third Wave Recording in Torrance, California.
The album’s cover featured Allroy, a yellow-skinned cartoon character created by Karl Alvarez. The character was based on a caricature he had drawn of Stephen Egerton.
The band lineup on this album was Karl Alvarez on bass and backing vocals, Stephen Egerton on guitar and backing vocals, Bill Stevenson on drums and backing vocals, and Dave Smalley (formerly of Dag Nasty) on lead vocals. Also contributing backing vocals on this album were Milo Aukerman and Dez Cadena, among many others.
This album was originally released with 10 tracks but the CD and cassette versions had 12 tracks. My favorites are “Pretty Little Girl” and “Just Perfect.”
Allroy for Prez
This EP was released in 1988. It was also released by Cruz Records and also recorded at Third Wave. Bill Stevenson was the sole producer on this one.
This release was their last to feature the singer Dave Smalley. He left the band because he couldn’t keep up with their heavy touring schedule.
The cover featured Allroy campaigning for President. They did this to coincide with the 1988 presidential election.
It was originally released with 6 songs but was reissued with 2 additional tracks that were originally on the “Just Perfect” single. My favorite song on this EP is “Skin Deep.”
Allroy’s Revenge
The band’s 2nd full length album was released in September 1989 by Cruz Records. Like the others, it was recorded at Third Wave and it was produced by Bill Stevenson.
This one was their first release with singer Scott Reynolds. He had been in former Descendents bass player Tony Lombardo’s bands Boxer Rebellion and Three Car Pileup.
Speaking of Tony, he contributed to the writing of 2 songs on this album: “Man-O-Steel” and “Gnutheme.”
The LP version was released with 12 tracks. The CD version included 2 additional tracks.
My favorite song from this album is also one of my favorite ALL songs, if not my absolute all time favorite “She’s My Ex.”
Trailblazer
The band’s first live album was live at CBGBs in New York City on July 18, 1989 and was released the following year by Cruz Records. Bill Stevenson produced this one alongside Stephen Egerton. Additionally, Prong’s Tommy Victor was the recording engineer for it. It was mixed and mastered at Third Wave.
The name of the album comes from the brand of camping toilet that the band used while they were on tour. The cover was drawn by Karl Alvarez and Scott Reynolds.
The LP and CD versions both were released with 14 tracks. The tracks included were “Carnage,” “Fool,” “Box,” “Skin Deep,” “Just Perfect,” “Postage,” “She’s My Ex,” “Copping Z,” “Man-O-Steel,” “Paper Tiger,” “Sex in the Way,” “Check One,” “I Hate to Love,” and “Gnutheme.”
I personally prefer the Scott Reynolds version of “Just Perfect.” I just tend to like his voice over Smalley’s.
Allroy Saves
Released in August 1990 by Cruz, this 3rd studio album by the band was also recorded at Third Wave and production duties were shared by Bill and Stephen.
The band’s first music video, for “Simple Things,” was released from this album.
This was the band’s last album to be recorded in the Los Angeles area because after the release of this album, the band relocated to Brookfield, Missouri.
This was the band’s last album to feature the mascot’s name in the title. A decision that I feel should not have been made. I think they should have kept going with this, for lack of a better term, gimmick.
Allroy Saves featured a song that was written by Descendents vocalist Mile Aukerman. It was “Just Like Them.”
The cover was designed by Stephen Egerton.
All versions of this release had 12 tracks on them. My favorite tunes from this album include “Just Like Them,” “Simple Things,” and “Educated Idiot.”
New Girl, Old Story
While not, technically, an ALL album while at the same time it kind of is, this one was a collaboration between the band and former Descendents bass player Tony Lombardo. It was recorded at Third Wave during the Allroy Saves recording sessions and what produced by Bill and Stephen. It was released by Cruz in August 1991.
Lead vocals on this album were shared between Scott, Tony, and Karl and Tony played bass on all of the tracks.
The album had 12 tracks. The tracks I like most on it are “Casual Girl” and “This Is Not a Dream.”
Percolater
The band’s 4th studio album and first to be recorded outside of LA, this one was released in May 1992 by Cruz. It was produced by Bill and Stephen and recorded at Chapman Recording Studios in Kansas City, Nightingale Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, and Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee.
The band moved to Missouri primarily because they couldn’t afford to live in Los Angeles anymore. They moved to Brookfield because Bill’s father owned a house there and offered to rent the house to the band.
This was the band’s last album with singer Scott Reynolds. The singer that replaced him, Chad Price, actually provided backing vocals on this album.
This was, unfortunately, the first album of theirs to not be named after their mascot. Tragic I know. The cover was painted by Scott Reynolds.
A music video for the song “Dot” was released from this album. “Dot” was also the first single from the album. The single included a cover of the Johnny Cash song “A Boy Named Sue.”
There were 14 tracks on this album. My favorites are “Dot” and “Minute.”
Breaking Things
This one was released in August 1993 by Cruz. It was recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN and produced by Bill, Stephen, and John Hampton.
This was their first album recorded with new lead vocalist Chad Price. Chad was a friend and fan of the band and when trying to decide whether or not to recruit him as the band’s new singer, they reached out to former Descendents vocalist Milo Aukerman for advise who said “Yeah! Get that guy!”
Speaking of Milo, he provided backing vocals for this album.
Breaking Things had 14 tracks on it. My favorite songs from this album are “Original Me,” “Shreen,” “Guilty,” and “Birthday I.O.U.”
I don’t know how strange this is being a big Descendents fan and all but this is the first ALL album that I ever heard.
Pummel
Pummel was released in April 1995. It was the first album not to be released by Cruz. It was released by Interscope Records. It is also the first album (and certainly not the last) to be recorded at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado although it was also partially recorded at Ardent in Memphis. The album was produced by Bill and Stephen.
It was the only album of theirs to be on a major record label. The band built their recording studio The Blasting Room after with the money that they got from Interscope for this album. Following their singing to Interscope, the band relocated (again) to Fort Collins, Colorado, a town about an hour north of Denver.
On a personal note, I visited this recording studio in July 2019 when we were visiting family in Colorado. It was a great visit.
A music video for the song “Million Bucks” was released for this album. They also performed this song live for Late Night with Conan O’Brien in May 1995. Additionally, the song “Long Distance” was performed on MTV’s 120 Minutes in June 1995.
The album did not chart and the band felt that Interscope didn’t do a good job of promoting the album. The band left the label after this album.
The album’s cover features a picture of a monster truck. I’m not sure why the hell they went with this. I’m sure they have a reason but I haven’t read anything about it.
The album was released with 15 tracks. The Japanese release featured an additional song.
My favorite tunes from Pummel are “Self-Righteous,” “Million Bucks,” “Miranda,” “Long Distance,” “This World,” “Breakin Up,” “Broken,” and “Black Sky.”
A lot of ALL fans I’ve had the discussion with don’t particular like this album but this one is easily my favorite album of theirs.
Mass Nerder
This 7th studio album from the band was released in May 1998 by Epitaph Records. It was recorded at The Blasting Room and produced by Bill, Stephen, and Jason Livermore.
They started working on this album in 1996 but took a break while the Descendent reunited and recorded the tracks for their album Everything Sucks.
Mass Nerder is the first album since 1990s Allroy Saves to feature their mascot Allroy on the cover.
There were 16 tracks on the album. My favorites are “Fairweather Friend,” “Until I Say So,” “Think the World,” “Honey Peeps,” “Refrain,” “Vida Blue,” and “Until Then.”
ALL
This one is a compilation that was released in February 1999 by Owned and Operated Records, ALL’s own label.
The songs on the album, a total of 22, were picked by fans and also include a previously unreleased version of “Just Like Them,” written by Milo Aukerman.
Most of the tracks come from previous albums. However, the first track on the album, “Crazy,” comes from the 1989 single for “She’s My Ex.”
It contains songs from all 3 ALL vocalists.
Problematic
This was the band’s 8th full length album and, to date, their final studio album. It was recorded at The Blasting Room with Bill, Stephen and Jason Livermore sharing production duties. It was released by Epitaph Records in June 2000.
There are 18 tracks on this album.
My favorites from Problematic are “Carry You,” “Better Than That,” “www.sara,” “Stupid Kind of Love,” and “Teresa.”
Live Plus One
The band’s 2nd live album is a collaborative effort between them and Descednents. It was released in August 2001 by Epitaph Records. It was a 2 disc set with ALL on one disc and Descendents on the other. The ALL side was recorded in 2001 at The Starlight in Fort Collins (the Descendents side was recorded in 1996 at The Whiskey in Los Angeles). It was mixed and mastered at The Blasting Room. It was produced by Bill, Stephen and Jason.
This album was the only ALL release to ever make the US Billboard 200 chart, reaching #45.
The ALL side contains 22 songs, including the song originally sung by Scott Reynolds, “She’s My Ex.” I’m not sure if this is blasphemy or not but I prefer Scott singing this over Chad.
So I’m going to do my ranking for their albums but I’m only going to include their full length albums. So here is my ranking, in descending order.
9. New Girl, Old Story (I just never really got into this one for some reason)
8. Allroy’s Revenge
7. Percolater
6. Allroy Sez
5. Allroy Saves
4. Problematic
3. Mass Nerder
2. Breaking Things
1. Pummel
Well, that’s it for this edition of Discograffiti. Hope you enjoyed it and hope you keep coming back for more. See you next time!
Great stuff! Here are a few random thoughts --
A) The song "Guitar Case" from the TonyALL record is a hidden gem.
B) I wouldn't be surprised if Pummel's cover was a record label idea.
C) I'm glad that they included "Crazy" on the self-titled comp. I really wish they would release a b-sides / unreleased compilation. They have so many great songs that were not on their albums.
D) Oh, I just thought of this. You should have included Stephen Egerton's album as a bonus.
E) Here's my ranking --
1. Breaking Things
2. Percolater
3. Allroy Sez
4. Problematic
5. Allroy's Revenge
6. Allroy for Prez
7. Mass Nerder
8. Pummel
9. Allroy Saves
10. New Girl, Old Story