Unlike, say, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, about Wilco puke and get depressed in the studio, or Some Kind Of Monster, about Metallica fall-out and scream at each other in the studio, Critical Times doesn't have much to offer the viewer who couldn't give a rancid shit about these Fishbone types. Those aforementioned rockumentaries, they serve as amazing films even if the music involved sickens a man's guts. This here is much more of a fans-only type deal.
Why the hell you wouldn't want to be fans of these folks, though, that's something that would have The Duke stumped. These creations are nothing short of mind-blowing; The breathless Demon In Here, the sax-driven call to arms, Last Dayz, Critical Times, the pure Motown of In The Heat Of Angrrr, the intricacy of it all, the fact that by all rights it should sound like a motorway pile-up and instead sounds almost divine in origin, this just ain't the typea shit a man encounters every day in existence.
What I'm gonna do is go seek out some of the back-catalogue, is what. This is truly a life-affirming development.
Thanks folks.
The Duke resides at Mondo Irlando
Visit The MP3 Digest
Article comments
1 - SFC Ski
YOu reality have to get the EP, as well as Inyour Face and Truth and Soul to give you the full Fishbone experience, I am just glad I got to see them live. THey really are desrving of a lot more exposure and kudoes, too. THanks for the tip.
2 - godoggo
Saw them once in the late 80s, when they were playing strictly ska, and didn't care much for them, but then a second time a few months ago, and was totally blown away. Great band, and something for everybody, one would think. Beats me why their not huge. Timing I guess.
3 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Thanks folks.
SFC, i'll fling those on the wishlist right the hell now. What EP are you refering to, though?
Godoggo, i dunno what the deal is either. I do remember that when the Give A Monkey A Brain... record came out (which i believe was the parent album of the Swim, Motherfucker, Swim ditty mentioned in the review) a lot of the UK rock magazines (well, kerrang and metal hammer, anyhow) were singing the praises. I ain't heard a damn thing since then, though. Maybe cuase my reading habits changed. Who knows?
But in the DVD, Norwood says about how folks they started out with got real huge and then just stopped making music. He says he'd rather be in the position he is now, were he can just carry on with this stuff.
Anyhow, thanks folks.
4 - Maniac Cop
Great to see somebody discover Fishbone! They're so underappreciated, it's ridiculous. I feel that Critical Times is great as a documentary just because of how far it is from Some Kind of Monster's drama queen excesses. Whether or not you dig the band (and, like you said, what idiot wouldn't?) this is engaging as a thorough look at the artistic creative process at work.
Fishbone's last album was out in 2002, but they're reportedly back in the studio now. All their releases are spectacular, but I'd say their greatest album is The Reality of My Surroundings, followed by the more mainstream-accessible Truth and Soul.
5 - SFC SKI
Digging through my old cassettes, I found a mixtape of "In your Face" and it's B-side was "Truth and Soul"; what great recordings those are, I kept the tape in my player for a week of commuting. "Give a Monkey..." was a bit too unmelodic for me, but I can understand why they wanted to do the album that way. "Reality..." was a really different, much more hard, almost heavy metal album in places, especially in the guitar department. I will say that Spacey-T's solo on "Just Allow" from "Nuttmegalomania" has only one fault in that it is way too short. I look forward to seeing what the boys will bring out next.