Ah, I remember the day when I first picked up Ribbed and put it on the counter. The middle-aged woman saw the CD and quickly looked at me with a hairy eyeball. She asked what it was and my response was that it was an album by a humorous band. As she was getting the CD out of the special safety case and checking it out for me, she gave me a nice conversation on sex, which I previously had with my parents and I thought it was a little inappropriate. In fact, I think her specific words on the subject was "be like a snake and wait until the right moment to strike" and to tell you the truth, I was offended because she shouldn't have been talking about that kind of stuff with me when I'd known her for all of five minutes. I quickly got an idea. My friend was with me and as we were leaving, he asked, "Why'd you buy that CD, dude?" and I was all, "There's a free condom inside. Jessica's going to love this." And then we laughed crazily as we walked out of the store and the funny thing was just to see the look on that stupid clerk's face as she scolded at us from afar.
That was a huge sidetrack and I'm sorry. I have tons of stories like that
This was the fifth NOFX album that I bought (I think) and it¡|s one of my favorites. The thing about this CD is that you can quickly get into it without having to listen to it over and over again. It just came to me naturally and I love CDs like that. The lyrical content in Ribbed usually revolves around sex and that kind of humor and just goofing off with little or no serious lyrics and I was sort of disappointed by that, but not enough to drag my rating of this release down. I love their serious songs like Black and White (from Heavy Petting Zoo) and their political songs, but they aren't at all here in this CD so if you are looking for those particular elements then you won't find them in Ribbed.
Also, the record is pretty short (about half an hour). This is a good thing but also a bad thing. Sometimes the longer an album by an artist, the more filler/crappy tracks because they try to drag on the CD so if a record is short and all those tracks are awesome it's a great thing. The only bad thing is about short records is that they are relatively SHORT. If there's a band that I love to hear then I want to hear them for at least an hour so I was disappointed in that sense but hey, all the songs are listenable and downright awesome so my mad thoughts are easily dispelled, but if you hate short albums, be warned.
In 1991 (when this record was conceived...well, actually it was made in 1990, but you get the picture--it CAME OUT in 1991, but it was...never mind me) a lot of great records came out like Pennywise's self titled debut CD (Read my review) and Nirvana's incredible Nevermind album (Read my review) and I have to admit that back then the recording was yucky and most LPs had muggy tracks because of this and surprisingly Ribbed has excellent sound quality. All the tracks are clear and sharp and it makes the listening experience very good.
Something that you will notice almost immediately is that there is a lot of back up vocals. I usually pay attention to back up vocals to see if they cut off the lead singer or get to touchy, and NOFX is fine with this, but in Ribbed there are way too many back ups in unnecessary places. It doesn't affect my listening experience, but I would just like to point this out because for some weirdoes, this could annoy them.
THE BAND
Fat Mike--Vocals/Bass
Eric Melvin--Guitar/Vocals
Izzy Drew Lynn--Guitar/Vocals
Groggy Nodbeggar--Drums
Fat Mike, who is famous for his out of key voice, is a wonderful musician. He has made up brilliant songs and played amazing bass riffs and his overall voice is a thumps up, but in Ribbed (and in other past CDs) his voice is naughty and squeaky sort of and isn't at all cut down as it is now. It's raw. It's like a Fat Mike in his natural habitat, mateys! This is a good thing for me because his voice is cool either way, but it could bother some people. Those people who already hate his voice.
Something else is that the guitars and bass are fast and in fact, the whole CD is fast and blurs together with similar tempos. The songs are different and hold their variety, but the drumbeats just sabotage each song and it's a downer. I like fast tracks, but CDs also need slow tracks because it helps slow things down and stop the tempo from just continuing and sticking together. I wasn't disappointed, though. I just gave NOFX a slap on this wrist this time, but just remember that this was 1991 and that they have..."matured" a bit.
El Hefe and Smelly, I guess, aren't in this record. I found this out as soon as I bought it. I always thought that the band had always been together because they have fantastic chemistry together, but I was wrong...I think. I'm positive that Erik (AKA El Hefe) isn't in the band in this CD but I'm not sure about Smelly. Maybe...I haven't seen a DIRECT picture of Smelly, so I don't know if it's him in the picture in the booklet. It sort of looks like him though, but I'm not sure. I mean, in the booklet the drummer is named "Groggy Nodbeggar"...you can never be too sure so I'm not. If you know, feel free to email me or something.
TRACK LISTINGS
(As you can tell by just reading the listings, NOFX is very funny.)
1. Green Corn--9/10
2. The Moron Brothers--9/10
3. Shower Days--10/10
4. Food, Sex, and Ewe--8/10
5. Just The Flu--8/10
6. El Lay--8/10
7. New Boobs--10/10
8. Cheese--9/10
9. Where's My Slice?--8/10
10. Together On The Sand--9/10
11. Nowhere--9/10
12. Brain Constipation--9/10
13. Gonoherpasyphilaids--8/10
14. I Don't Want You Around--9/10
15. The Malachi Crunch--9/10
FAVORITE SONGS
"Shower Days"
As soon as this song goes through your ear hole, it craps on your brain and never goes away. I listen to this song constantly because the chorus is just so catchy and as a matter of a fact, I'm humming it right now. The chorus will be inside your head for days (or in my case, months). As soon as you hear this song, you will instantly see the true NOFX. This song is exactly like the present day NOFX. The guitars are in sync and make a solid sound and sometimes one of the guitars will be tweaked to a limit that makes me think of turkeys gobbling (you will know what I'm talking about as soon as you hear it). The bass isn't as cool as you might think but it's still really awesome and fast paced. The drums are fast and furious, but they don't really catch my attention. Like, I know they are there, but they aren't as good as the other drumming on the record. The lyrics are funny as crap about Fat Mike not liking to take showers (don't we all?) and it's hilarious to hear him complain about this because he actually sounds sincere.
LYRICAL BITES
Those dreaded Wednesdays and Saturdays
Also known as shower days
I hate them
"New Boobs"
As you can tell by the title, this song is a riot. The lyrics are actually good and smart and the chorus is wonderful. The song tells a story about a girl who can't get guys so she has to get breast implants, but finds out that she made a mistake or something like that. The guitars and bass riffs are spectacular and they are chugged to the maximum limit and are very angry even though the topic is light. There's one guitar that's doing hard notes while the other one is being soft and delightful and they both make good sounds while the bass is off in it's own little realm. The drumming in this song is awesome with great snare bursts and cymbal socking. Fat Mike's vocals are really tried and charred in this song and it sounds as if his throat is giving out as he's singing. Something that's the highlight of the song, which I laugh at each time I hear it is at the end when the whole band is going "Whoa! New boobs (jugs)! New boobs (jugs)! Whoa! Waa! Waa!" in a light tone and doing it like a Broadway sort of musical and then Fat Mike (or Izzy, I don't know) comes on and says how he loves them and it's just hilarious and it's a guaranteed laugh out of everyone.
LYRICAL BITES
I'm not receiving enuff affection Gonna get me a silicon injection
And fulfill my dreams, bust through my seams
SPECS
Cost--$14.99
Length--28 minutes and 41 seconds
Booklet--I love the booklet for "Ribbed" because it's so full of spunk and good humor. On the cover there's a picture of a Trojan condom except with "NOFX--Ribbed" on it. It's pretty self-explanatory and funny. On the inside are lyrics for all the songs and thank you's and technical stuff. Something I would like to point out is that there are some spelling errors. NOFX is a humorous band so I don't know if they meant to misspell some words, but some are just very easy to see like "'Together On The Sand' was singed by Izzy Drew Lynn". On the back of the booklet is a picture of the band. I've identified Fat Mike and Melvin, but the other two I don't know. The pictures are eighties style (even though the CD was made in 1991) and totally weird looking.
Year Made--1991
Material--The booklet is semi-gloss and full of redness.
Ribbed For--The listener's pleasure.
CLOSING STATEMENTS
I recommend this record to already-steady NOFX fans. If you are trying to get into NOFX, I'd advise you to try The War On Errorism or Pump Up The Valuum first because they are more friendly and poppy then Ribbed. Despite the shortness of the album, this is a must-buy for NOFX fans even if Smelly and El Hefe are nowhere to be found. If you love records with a catchiness that's high without being too poppy and quality of songs with humor in them, you should definitely check this CD out because I think it's one of the NOFX's best records that should be heard by everybody. Hey, thanks for reading! I really appreciate and look forward to my other reviews. Peace out!
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.