Word: uprights
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...NOFX's never unsatisfying punk evolution from hardcore hopefuls to High Priests of Pop Punk Rock, the comfortable lull has finally arrived with this new release. So Long treads no new musical territory--prepare to sit back and relax, don't wait to be jolted upright by anything exciting or surprising. Instead, happily settle into this boldly unexpansive album with its unwavering familiarity as it dips into mellow grooves and blasts out edgy numbers that have all been heard at some point. The end result is a dulling immediate satisfaction that never quite makes any sort of indelible impression...
...Yeah, It's That Easy frustrates the G. Love fan who has been acclimated to the loose, raw groove of his earlier work. Listen to the intro of the first single, "Stepping Stones": acoustic guitar chords ring out (good), followed by spacey-sounding slide (not so good), then the upright bass enters the picture (very good), followed by background singers crooning "na na" (what the...?). The rest of the album is maddeningly uneven in the same way. Catchy, funky numbers are buffered by colorless, inarticulate rants. Promising compositions are deprived of vitality by slick production and extraneous instruments and vocals...
...relief of some listeners, McBride picked up his upright bass immediately after finishing "Twenty-Seven Summers," and the trio launched into a swinging, up-tempo 12-bar blues. With McBride walking up and down his bass and Redman offering some bluesy riffs, the audience got right back into it and afterwards applauded enthusiastically as the trio took a collective bow, arms over each others' shoulders...
...what separates the movie from any other white-knight special is the palpable, big-screen reality of the characters: that is, while we know they're all blown up or simplified as necessary, we still can't wait to watch what happens when the upright Exley locks horns with Smith or goes to talk with prettyboy Vincennes whom we've up to then only known from more public appearances. People make mistakes or people shock us with coldly inhuman decisions, but things never subside into a predictable formula...
Dossey's research revealed that in two-thirds of altercations, the officer and the suspect ended up wrestling on the ground; previous training methods had presumed upright resistance. The revised training curriculum emphasizes ground fighting, joint locks and dodging punches and kicks. An officer's initial attempt to grasp a suspect's arm has been replaced with the more flexible "C grip," a loose grab that does not tend to provoke an angry response. They learn to wait for backup so they can use "team takedowns" to apprehend a suspect more easily. Recruits are taught how to "talk someone into...