Sound: Agent Orange are an excellent Orange County, CA, punk band. "Living In Darkness" was released in 1981. The CD has 15 excellent songs that last just 30 minutes, and an unnecessary 9 minute interview. Agent Orange sound like an unlikely cross between The Misfits and The Beach Boys. Three of the songs on the album are covers of the classic surf-rock instrumentals such as "Miserlou" and "Pipeline." The Offspring don't hide the fact that they are huge fans, and Agent Orange were a huge influence on them. // 9
Lyrics and Singing: "Bloodstains," "Too Young To Die," "The Last Goodbye" (my personal favorite), "No Such Thing" and "Living In Darkness" all have well written lyrics. Lead vocalist and rhythm guitaris Mike Palm has an average voice. He sounds like an average punk rock singer. A few of the songs like "Bored Of You" and "Everything Turns Grey" have kind of corny lyrics. // 7
Impression: The combination of surf rock and punk works really well on this album. The instrumentals on here sound great, especially their version of Dick Dale's "Miserlou." There are two versions of "Bloodstains," and they both sound great, but there isn't much of a difference between them. "The Last Goodbye" is my personal favorite on the album. It's got some great stuff on here, but the album doesn't last long, although I have listened to it several times. The nine minute interview is boring, and was probably put on only to fill extra space and make the album seem longer. I bought it for $8 at Tower Records, and if it were lost I would buy another copy for the price. // 8
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