Ted Leo And The Pharmacists — Living With The Living

This is Leo's fifth full-length with The Pharmacists, and it rivals 2003's Hearts Of Oak as his best. It's brimming with punk energy and politics, but also owes a debt to a few classic rockers. There are shades of Bruce Springsteen in the energetic "Sons Of Cain," and the Thin Lizzy influences spotted on past efforts show up again on "Colleen" and "The World Stops Turning," where Phil Lynott meets Joe Strummer somewhere in the heavens. An acoustic guitar intro and tin whistle add a definite Celtic flavour to "A Bottle Of Buckie," and you can hear some Black 47 in "Annunciation Day/Born On Christmas Day." The Pharmacists prescribe full-on reggae, and do it convincingly, on "The Unwanted Things," while reggae-based guitar complements the militaristic beat of "The Lost Brigade." If you've witnessed the Joel Plaskett Emergency in peak form, you'll have an idea of what to expect from "Some Beginner's Mind." You'll want to keep living with this album the more you listen to it.