Southern California punk band CPR317 have released Great Memories a retrospective of their catalog with three new songs and some live tracks added in for good measure covering 2014 – 2020.
CPR317 has been releasing their brand of Southern California punk rock since 2014 or so and strangely enough had a live album as their first release in 2014, which I reviewed earlier Live at Fuzion. At the time it was an impressive debut and it’s good to see those tracks making it back here in this collection along with the ep In the Business, which I also reviewed and liked back in 2016. Since then the father/son duo who are most of the band have released an ep in 2019, Turn it Up, which has the first three tracks on this release and they recorded “WhoSoEver”, “Psalm 31”, and “We’re Coming Back (live)” which is a Cock Sparrer cover to complete this compilation. From a lyrics view, the band is unapologetically Christian in focus, which should be obvious given “Psalm 31” is one of their tracks. CPR definitely fits within the Thumper Punk Records roster and reminds me at times of True Liberty who is also on that label.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at songs I haven’t reviewed before. “Turn it Up” opens very much like “Suspect Device” by Still Little Fingers, which is a very good thing and fits with how they’ve been described in the past as having Damned, Dead Kennedys, Still Little Fingers, and Cock Sparrer as influences. The song is fast, has some great gravelly vocals and perhaps some guitar parts not usually heard in punk songs. Great gang vocals, solid drums and bass work and catchiness, make this a great opening track.