Released in 1994 after several years' worth of increasingly accomplished EPs and singles,
Propeller is a self-assured full-length blast of exceptional pop-punk. Singer Doug Caine's vocal style is appealingly bratty --
Green Day's
Billie Joe Armstrong and
the Descendents' Milo Aukerman are the obvious reference points, although comparisons to
Pete Shelley are not off base -- without the occasional juvenile tendencies of contemporaries like
Dr. Frank of
the Mr. T Experience, and guitarist Jeff Graham leads the band through a dozen three-minute slabs of melodic punk efficiently but without making the songs sound too much alike. The album isn't perfect -- the cover of "Pretty in Pink" would have been a great encore, but it doesn't really fit on the album -- but it's far better than average. ~ Stewart Mason