The Broadways - We All Know That You Can Do It

If the blog's moniker didn't alert you, or you simply weren't familiar with the reference, I'm a huge fan of Chicago's The Broadways. Ever since fellow staffer twoeyes turned me on to these guys mid-high school, I've been close to obsessed with their wares, never going longer than a couple months without giving them a spin. I'd been meaning to pen a lengthy (likely exhausting) review of their sole LP, Broken Star, long before this blog's conception even, but it's a pretty daunting task. If you braved the piece I did on Defiance, Ohio's Share What Ya Got, you have an idea of what to expect - a long winded autobiographical affair laced with commentary about the disc's tangible content and all the sentimental and personal meaning it stews in. Acceptable territory for ctrl+f'ing the mediafire link, in other words. That, or an ever-so-egotistical public journal entry.
Since I haven't built up the intestinal fortitude nor the commitment to sit down for another "deep" marathon post yet, let's take a look at The Broadways' debut EP, We All Know That You Can Do It - 4 super high quality melodic punk tunes that never get old. If you've never listened to these guys before, their sound is steeped in the classic East Bay pop-punk vigor; most notably Jeff Ott's bands Crimpshrine and Fifteen, alongside some prevailing Jawbreaker influence. Fortunately though, The Broadways never get too bogged down in introspection like the latter, nor do they resort to dull, chugging, filler garbage like Fifteen often indulge in towards the middle of most of their records.
Having formed from the dissolution of the awesome ska-punk band, Slapstick, the surviving members were able to get all their chops down in a different genre before tackling pop-punk, resulting in an really fresh, energetic band who sound like they're between newcomer and veteran status (ie a practiced but never formulaic). It's really unfortunate the band chose to split after such a short time together, but as such, the earliest recordings of the band sound exactly like the band performing their final 7 songs at the beginning of the Broken Van compilation - consistently great across the board give or take a song or two. The band members wouldn't really hit a dud note until two of the core members formed The Lawrence Arms, but I know I'm in the minority in thinking that... more on them some other time.
Fortunately, each one of the four songs on here is a classic, and could only be more of an accurate summary of the unit if one of the songs was led by Chris McCaughan. "TV Song" is your quintessential Brendan Kelly sung uptempo track, with a well placed break towards the middle that accentuates the lyrics perfectly. "Ben Moves To California" was later re-recorded for the band's Broken Star LP; the vocals here are a little less nasally sounding than the 2nd version, and the guitar is a little different during Brendan's part, but overall, there's not much difference between the two. I guess that's why this song was left off the Broken Van compilation, but if you're like me, you pretty much need it. By the way, does anyone have the lyrics to what Brendan sings? For whatever reason, they're completely absent from both the booklet and the entire internet. "Broadway And Briar" and "Rainy Day" are definitely the best cuts on here, with the former being a mid-paced anthemic track, and the latter being Hanaway at his most Jeff Ott-y.
Sorry, song-by-song reviews suck and I'm not strong enough a writer to defy that fact. Regardless, you need this:

http://www.mediafire.com/?8rlwnq4wpncrf6p

I also threw in the song "Fuck The Church", which only appears on the Drive Thru Records compilation Where's The Beef?. I really don't know why they left it off the Broken Van compilation, but it's a good one.