The Devil Is Back, So Girls Dry Your Tears
Written: Apr 16 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: a good smattering of leftovers from most of their career
Cons: a lot of the best stuff remains unreleased
The Bottom Line: Medium Rare is well worth it for Bosstone die hards, but others will want to think about it.
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| MattA75's Full Review: Medium Rare - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones |
In 2002, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones went on "hiatus," and very little was heard from them for the next five years. Then, in October of 2007, the band announced they were coming back to play a 10th Hometown Throwdown in Boston, MA in December of that year, and would release a "rarities" collection, titled Medium Rare, as well. They also entered a studio and recorded 3 brand new songs for the release.
On the whole, b-sides and rarities collections are a mixed bag. You might have 2 or 3 outstanding tracks and a whole lot of songs that were left on the cutting room floor for what turn out to be obvious reasons. Sure there are exceptions (the Foo Fighters have 2 CDs worth of high quality b-side material, and that was BEFORE their last album), but on the whole, they are for diehard fans only.
Medium Rare is a bit better than a lot of b-side compilations, but it could have been much stronger. On the bright side, the band released an additional 3 songs that hadn't been released in any capacity. On the downside, they did not own the rights to some of their very best material (b sides or not), including, but not limited to, Storm Hit, Pirate Ship, and Wake Up Call, and so none of those songs appear here.
The three new songs are extremely strong, and should whet any fans' appetite for a rumored new full length album. Album opener This List is a ferocious mix of punk energy and two tone rhythm, with vocalist Dicky Barrett attacking the war in Iraq and its consequences for the men and women in our armed forces. Politics has never been the band's motus operandi, but they pull it off with gusto here.
On the other end of the spectrum comes Don't Worry Desmond Dekker, a straight up ska/reggae song that lyrically touches on the hiatus and the reasons for it. It's a good song, and it sounded great in a live setting in December, but it feels like it's lacking something inately "Bosstones." The other new song, The One With The Woes All Over It, is straight up pop-rock, and further proves the band's ability to write a terrific song in that genre. The horns take a back seat (they're there, but only briefly, and you don't notice them if you aren't looking for them), and there are hooks galore throughout the length of the track.
In terms of the b-sides and rarities, some of these songs have been well known in Bosstones communities for years. Chocolate Pudding is a song about how great pre-packaged chocolate pudding is ("it's only a buck!"), and remains a popular live request for fans to this day. It's also notable since it is sung by Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton, one of the band's saxophone players. It's cheesy, but it is a lot of fun. And both So Many Ways and Is It were b-sides to the band's biggest hits of their career. And not to get off on a tangent, but it's amazing to me how good of an album Let's Face It could have been if they had included everything that became b-sides and taken off the 3 or 4 worst tracks on that record.
Both The Meaning and Favorite Records are leftovers from the Pay Attention sessions. The Meaning was issued on the vinyl release, while Favorite Records had never been released until now. The Meaning has a mean Nate Albert guitar riff driving it, while Favorite Records is more of a groove oriented reggae song,
Katie and To California come from the Jackknife to a Swan sessions, and both of those would have fit seamlessly onto that record. Katie is about a relationship gone bad, and was written by sax player Roman Flysher. It's more of a classic pop song, it doesn't have much of an edge to it, but it has a great hook and some great horn playing that will make you want to get up and dance. To California is more standard Bosstones fare. It's really nothing more than your basic by the numbers Bosstones album track, but I do think it would have fit on Jackknife pretty well.
The band's tribute to the Hometown Throwdown, This Time of Year is included, as is a pair of hard to find tracks in A Reason To Toast and Who's Fooling Who. Those two songs represent the weakest of the litter on Medium Rare, and pretty much should just be forgotten about on the whole.
Medium Rare is a nice little disc that should ultimately make most Bosstones fans happy. While it isn't as satisfying as a new full length album, after waiting five years, it sure beats nothing. 3.5 stars, rounded down.
The Throwdown was hugely successful (the 5 shows sold out in about 10 minutes, I was lucky enough to attend 4 of them), and the band is still active, playing shows here and there. They also launched a new website (www.bosstonesmusic.com), and chronicled their reunion in the "Road to the Throwdown" series, available at their website and at their myspace page.
Recommended:
Yes
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MattA75
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Member: Matt Aucoin
Location: South Berwick, ME
Reviews written: 1162
Trusted by: 465 members
About Me:
Gonna be a daddy, April 2010!
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