From the time they started in 1986, a time where founding guitarist Nate Albert was all of fourteen years old, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones have had to fight for everything. Through meticulous touring (over 350 shows a year at some points), word of mouth, and scoring a minor radio hit, Where'd You Go, from their second album, More Noise and Other Disturbances, the Bosstones had built a very respectable fan base by 1993. At that point, the band had graduated all the way to a major label, Mercury, who had put out the band's EP, Ska-Core, the Devil and More.

Following that was the band's third full length release, entitled Don't Know How to Party. Now, for those who don't know the Bosstones other than from their 1997 hit Impression That I Get, they were once not nearly as "commercially" viable. They all but founded the genre of "ska-core," a potent mix of the Jamaican ska genre and the American neo-metal genre of "hardcore." The band's first two records, released on independent Taang! Records, set the tone for this release.

It's also important to mention that this is the band's last record as a "party band." After this record enjoyed modest success, the band turned a collective eye to becoming a more serious outfit, which led to their late 90s success. However, in many fans eyes, the Bosstones have never truly improved on the early sound that came to an end with this record.

The first hint of the band changing, ironically enough, is on the first song of this record, entitled Our Only Weapon. The band addresses the ills of society in general on this track, an anthem that is perhaps more of a punk track than anything else in the group's collective catalog. The horns add emphasis here more than anything else, as they drive the song along. The lyrics aren't the greatest, for sure, but it shows lead singer Dicky Barrett making an attempt to come up with something other than a drunken story.

Drunken stories, after all, make up a good part of this album. And there's nothing wrong with that. The title track remains a favorite of tons of die hard fans of the group. It's gotten to the point where Dicky has said onstage at points during recent shows things along the lines of "jesus christ, maybe we need to learn that one again." The title track starts off simply, with some simple ska chords over Barrett's singing. As the verse builds into the pre-chorus and the chorus, the music gradually builds louder and louder, until it's a full fledged ska-core anthem. It's loud, brash, fun, and yes, even quite a bit catchy.

The song that follows the title track, the semi-hit Someday I Suppose, remains one of the band's most popular tracks, and with good reason. The intro led by the rhythm section of Joe Gittleman (the "bass fiddleman") and drummer Joe Sirois is obviously influenced by The Clash and maybe even a bit of The Police. The horns that are present in the intro are more of a melody type of part. As the song kicks in, guitarist Albert gets to throw out one of the best licks on an album in the 90s. During the verses, the song reverts back to a drum/bass/horns drive, and the chorus speeds back up. It's an excellent song that shows the diversity and talent of all the members of the band possibly better than any other song in the band's repetoire. Barrett's lyrics point at love lost, albeit in a more "immature" way than say, Skeleton Song from the band's 2000 album, Pay Attention.

The band also covers a song on this record, which given their propensity to do so, shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Tin Soldiers, originally done by Stiff Little Fingers, is a raucous punk song that in a word, rules. The Bosstones pull this one off flawlessly, working in the horns to perfection, while staying true enough to the kick as* original.

Among the other highlights on the record is the brash traffic cop bashing Illegal Left, and the ode to late night Boston, Almost Anything Goes.

The only real disappointment on the album is the thrashing Isachaar, a song that to this day I just don't get. Not all Bosstones thrashing is bad though, as Seven Thirty Seven/Shoe Glue proves.

I truly believe there is something for everyone on this album. There's even a somewhat softer track that is very heavily acoustically influenced called What Was Was Over that is a pure gem to listen to. While this album all but marks the end of the Bosstones as the most popular "frat boy band" in the nation, it helped set the stage for them to become more socially conscious and more serious. This has ultimately led to two of their best works, 1995's Question the Answers and the previously mentioned Pay Attention.

If you can't get into this Bosstones album, you won't be able to get into any of them. It's as simple as that.






Recommended: Yes