Operation Ivy

I heard some tracks by this band in the mid 90s, and liked it, though I did not seek out more and kind of forgot how ska- it leaned. This feels like original recipe, straight-ahead material on the hardcore/post-punk/ska spectrum. Smarter than average lyrics. I do feel like this is another one that suffers from its first song - Knowledge - being so strong that although there are tons of solid bangers after this, I didn't like anything quite as well.

Like there's not enough western punk rock on this list Spending 3 years listening to albums just to add this is insane 1

Probably the best album on this whole frigging list.

Absolutely agree this is list worthy. Punk anthems of my youth.

Absolutely legendary American ska punk record . Sounds like shit. Kids can barely play their instruments. Dropped 27 bangers. How was this not on the original list?

It's not bad. Maybe trying a bit too hard to sound like the Clash. Not a huge fan of the ska thing. 3 stars.

I can see the Ska vibes coming through at times but this is a 3rd rate band who were at least 10 years too late. There's even Clash echoes in here it's laughable. Jeez guys does it take that long for music to reach the West Coast? It's so devoid of talent and inspiration- not a shred of originality or talent (and I hate having to repeat the same word in the same sentence). Truly truly awful (there- I've done it again).

A punk rocker's anthem album. I'm surprised this isn't in the main list, yet.

A great album at the intersection of punk and ska. Put it on a drink the shittiest beer you can stomach.

Wow. Just really cool sounding. Frenetic, angry. Just what a punk band should be. A whole bunch of short, sweet songs. Should have made two albums. There's also a nice component of SKA mixed in here as well.

Definitely a 5 stars, so sad they called it it's quits after just an album.

Jesse Michaels: Vocals so whiny he could’ve been the fifth Teletubby—screaming about unity while ditching the band faster than a one-night stand. Tim "Lint" Armstrong: Guitar riffs as original as a thrift store T-shirt—ran off to Rancid to prove he could recycle the same three chords forever. Matt "McCall" Freeman: Basslines so basic he’s the human equivalent of a metronome—lucky he found Rancid to carry his talentless ass. Dave Mello: Drums like a toddler banging pots—left the scene to herd cows, probably the smartest move he ever made.

"Sound system gonna bring me back up, yeah, one thing that I can depend on" One of my all time favorites, glad to see it here.

This was a joy. 25 odd tracks over 50 minutes of punk, ska punk and all such other joys.

Ska punk, punk rock, hardcore punk. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Sound system, The crowd, Bombshell, Unity, Freeze up, Big city, Junkie’s runnin’ dry, Hoboken, Health body

Cool punk/ska music. Had fun listening to this one

CD

Probably the closest I've come to giving a 5, but not. I do adore this band and everything they did for the scene though.

Treat yourself to some raucous punk

27 songs in under 51 minutes! Punk as hell, and very influential on a bunch of American bands who followed. An absolute blast, which I am glad to have heard, but would have to take the place of something similar (unless the book becomes 2,002 albums!)

Banger!!! Great pick, even as a compilation record

This is the type of album I can rate even before finishing the listening session (for the good old punk, but also the repetitiveness). Good and essential ska punk album from 90s.

This was not bad, rowdy and energetic. I have a pretty limited tolerance for this style of music and sure didn't need to hear nearly an hour of it, but it has its moments. Fave Songs: Jaded, The Crowd, Bank Shot, Bad Town

Thought this one was going to be rough given the initial vocals, but it quickly settled into a rapid-fire, aggressive groove that I found myself enjoying. Reminded me of a more in-your-face version of Wire, which is never a bad thing.

More of the typical punk sound and style. I've grown somewhat fond of this kind of music. It's not something I seek out, but there's a good energy to it. This album's alright.

I've heard the occasional Operation Ivy song over the years, and I know their big draw is that Tim Armstrong was in the band. It's not TOO bad but ska is a big ask most of the time for me. I don't mind a bit of Rancid but I'm more of a Lars guy than Tim. And I was always overall more of a Pennywise guy anyway. This album is ok. Songs like Jaded and The Crowd are bang up my alley, exactly what I like in late 80s punk, but then Take Warning is close to the worst thing I've ever heard. haha. Also, I know this is some kind of compilation and their actual album isn't on Spotify, but fucking hell 50min of shoddy Bay Area punk... yeesh. 3/5.

Killer

This is something I definitely would have liked a lot more in college. Still I appreciated it more than I expected today. Solid!

Fun, raucous, energetic hardcore/ska from a truly innovative punk band but, even though it’s under a hour, at 27 songs long this compilation is just far too long and repetitive. The album and EP are both pretty good on their own, but listening to them stuck together like this became a bit of a slog. There are some absolutely great tracks on here, and a lot of filler

I agree with the top comment: there is already a few versions of this album on the list. At some point, a lot of the punk music just sounds interchanegable. Maybe if I had a better understanding of the whole history of the genre, I could appreciate the importance of these guys, but in the end it sounded similar to other stuff I've heard. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

What’s not to like. 27 songs in 50 mins. Shades of punk, pixies and the clash. Plenty of energy.

Good old classic punk rock,

Cool band but simply too rough around the edges for a consistent quality

I don't mind a bit of Operation Ivy but they've never been a favourite, I think mostly because they're a little bit on the lo-fi production side for my tastes, and this particular album jumps between straight-ahead punk and ska pretentions, which make it feel a bit messier than I guess they'd have desired. There are a bunch of good tracks; Sound System and Unity were already in my rotation, Freeze Up is ace, Artificial Life follows that with furious energy, but there are way way way too many tracks and not enough granularity within for them to be worthwhile in an album that comes in under an hour. High 2/Low 3 territory, preferable to loads we've had, but not great in and of itself.

So much punk and it still continues. Kind of makes you wonder how important can some of these punk albums be if so many were being made for 30 years. This album is alright. It’s pretty much Cali garage punk. Not too aggressive lyricism and the instrumentals are good but again nothing really amazing. This is another album that came and went. 5.4/10

I don't know what it is with punk bands and the super short songs over a span of so many tracks that all kind of sound the same. I always picture myself in a grunge basement or some very tiny venue with a group just rocking out.

This is a best of album of a punk rock and ska band that is the direct antecedent of Rancid and I'm not a real fan of the latter. The songs on this album sound a bit interchangeable and the vocals are not so great. It's ok, I guess, but no need to add best off albums to this list.

I mean it’s ska punk, I’m not sure what else to say.

I found it more strident than harmonious in its manufacture, screams, accelerated musicians. I know that is the intention of the genre but I don't even feel it is well done... mmm I don't know, it's not for me, and it's not music that puts me in a good mood or even energizes me apart from being or seeming very long in duration.

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