CD Review

Mighty Mighty Bosstones | Don't Know How to Party

Acting on a tip, Liberator operatives obtained a copy of the Mighty Mighty Bosstone's new CD, titled Don't Know How To Party. The Bosstones have jumped recording companies, from Taang! Records to the much larger Mercury Records, after an ugly public battle; Taang! is now printing "Bosstones Suck" shirts, (most of which are selling to Bosstones faus). Result? We decided to see if the ska-riffic Bosstones are still capable of kicking it out, after dumping their small-time label. As a group, we used a 1-20 overall rating system, with each of our four reviewers able to award up to five points.

Our four reviewers preferred the following types of music:

Alternative Pop: Think REM, They Might Be Giants, Wire. Not afraid to use melody, but far smarter than top-4O.

Pre-Punk Blues Funk: A fairly wide spectrum of groups, actually, such as The Cult, Black Sheep and the Toasters.

Lyrics & Melody: REM, U2, of course, and the lesser-known Purple Mushroom Band.

Vauge: One of those people that listens to this and that and borrows from your cd collections.

Alt Pop: I'll have to admit that I had my doubts about this new disk; the Bosstones are at a crucial point in their development right now, vying to break out from small-time sensation to big-time success. But, after giving Don't Know How To Party a thorough listening, I've got to say that this release should help them enormously; the tracks are hard-hitting, fast paced, and generally kickass ska. On tracks like "Our Only Weapon," "Ilegal Left" and "A Man Without," the Bosstones shoot for some political commentary, which is usually pretty hit or miss; where they really succeed, however, is when they throw blasting horns and solid guitar work together to make tracks like "Don't Know How To Party," "Someday I Suppose" and "Holy Smoke"; amusing, terrifically rhymed and written, and a hell of a lot of fun to listen to. This is a release no ska (or even hard rock fan) should be without.

Lyrics & Melody: I really wanted to like this album, and actually thought I would, but after hearing it once, I was not encouraged. The rather hardcore guitar and drums clashed at times with the more positively energetic brass. I forgot, however, that I need to listen to an album more than once to form a real opinion on it. I appreciated the album much more in the second listen. The hardcoreness of the album was less grating, and the energy flowed through more postlively. The lyrics do amuse and inspire contemplation (in places). "There's this electric lure that's sometimes so attractive but I'd rather hang my hat on a hook that's not so active." A couple of songs feature lines like "And we are is because what was is now was," and "did this could this come to this," which sound great at high speed, and are intriguingly confusing. My overall impression was positive, but can really only be appreciated in those moods when energy and power are prominent.

Pre-Punk: Well, I don't know about this one. I really like the old Bosstones albums, and this; one is just a BIT different. For one thing, the horns have taken on a completely different sound. They have departed from the mainstream ska sound, it very different. I think that I like it. They have ventured into a realm of hard guitar riffs, which is extremely odd, because on their last disc, you had to stretch your ears to hear the guitar and all of the sudden KABAM its hard-core metallic riffs from hell, like shit, great thanks, actually I'd like to listen to ska.

But, how time eludes me and evolution is just a year or two, I've been away. I like Don't Know How To Party, the title track, just because it's got good energy. They have changed, sounds like they've been listening to some big-band sounds, because it comes out in the songs, a departure from the ordinary. I can't really say that I didn't enjoy this album, but I'm not sure that I would buy it.

Vauge: I wouldn't buy it, I wouldn't dub it, but if it was lent to me I'd let it grow on me. It strikes me as driving music for those who exceed the speed limit often, steady adrenaline. It's got a thick beat and grind to it that only occasionally becomes hokey. The brass accelerates the music into a solo driving experience, I was only disappointed by "Almost Anything Goes" which never stopped and would not hold the attention of an MTV-weaned music goer. "Issachar" also irked me, the driving music sound i was enjoying turned into music you would hear in a sweaty room with little air and a disproportionate amount of people wearing black. All in all, its borrowable, won't get on your roomies' nerves too much and has some slick tracks that wail.

Alt. Pop: Don't let the mediocre reviews these other guys have slapped onto this disk stop you from buying it. Any ska fan needs this disk.

Label: Polygram Records
Tracks: 12
Total Length: 41:13
Music Type: Ska

Alt. Pop:
Vauge:
Lyrics & Melody:
Pre-Punk:

Out of Twenty we gave Don't Know How To Party a fourteen rating, meaning that as a group we generally thought it was worth listening to. A definite purchase for any ska fan.