Music

ALBUM REVIEW

 

By Michael Coyle

OUT NOW FISHBONE
“STILL STUCK IN YOUR THROAT” CD
SOUND IN COLOR

It’s not fair to keep looking back and comparing this Fishbone to that Fishbone, but it’s impossible to forget the band’s collapsed potential. Fishbone was so damn great and unique, and if you don’t miss what they used to do, you just don’t get it. But their albums never found their finest moments—they’re a live band. So here’s the fairest review: Still Stuck is definitely weird, mostly a good time, and will probably make for another kick-ass live set. Longtime fans will be happy to hear how the better songs on Still Stuck aim for the ska sound of Fishbone’s early records, reminiscent of all but the friendliest radio hits from 1991’s The Reality of My Surroundings. (“Sunless Saturday,” one of Reality’s hits, is included as a Spike Lee-directed video on the enhanced part of the disc.) But longtime fans will also sigh and skip ahead when they hear songs just a crooked ball cap and some bad rap away from being Kottonmouth Kings drivel. This is the third incarnation of a franchise that will be 30 soon, but Angelo Moore’s sweet pipes and Norwood Fisher’s bass still make it worthwhile, and bringing in fellow ’80s LA underground idol Rocky George (Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves) makes curious but perfect sense. George has enough presence and talent to stay with the band, though no one will mistake him for original guitarist Kendall Jones as he careens through strangely moving psychobilly-ska number “Skank ‘N Go Nuttz.” And just in case anyone forgot who came first, Fishbone’s tribute-album version of Sublime’s “Date Rape,” thanks to Norwood’s especially elastic bass line, mops the floor with the original.

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