Review - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones'
- Jackknife to a Swan

-by Christian B. Carey, Ph.D.

Dicky Barrett and Co. were not only influential on dozens of hardcore and ska-core acts, but seemed to presage the retro swing craze too, in attitude if not in style. With songs like 'The Impression that I Get' and 'Royal Oil' on 1997's Let's Face It, the Bosstones showed that one could combine hardcore's crunching riffs and croaking vocals with a large horn section and the inclusion of a dancer up front. This paved the way for bands such as the Cherry-Poppin' Daddies, Mighty Blue Kings, and Royal Crown Revue to leap on the Brian Setzer retro swing bandwagon, despite less than faithful renditions of swing classics.

The Bosstones continue to persevere, despite the departure of guitarist and principal songwriter Nate Farley, coupled with being dropped by their major label after their tepid sales of 2000's Pay Attention. Indeed, the strength of much of the material on their 2002 release Jackknife to a Swan, on the indie label Sideonedummy, belittles the notion that ska-core was a momentary blip on the cultural radar and that the Bosstones were a novelty act. On the contrary, Jackknife exhibits both their hardest rocking since 1994's Question the Answers and their most faithful ska grooves ever - just on different songs.

Rather than sticking with their usual amalgamation of ska riffs and hardcore sensibilities, the Bosstones separate the two from each other, for the most part, on Jackknife. As a result, songs like 'Everybody Better' and 'Chasing the Sun Away' are the closest thing to straight-up reggae that they have recorded. Would that radio had picked these up in July, as they are terrific songs to accompany a summer beach excursion. It is a pity that Baywatch Hawaii was canceled, wretched as the show itself was, because it would truly be fun to see Dicky Barrett in a cameo lip-syncing one of these babies - an incidence of syncronicity crippling in its ironical content and apocalyptic in its socio-cultural implications.

On other numbers, such as the memorable 'I Want my City Back,' Barrett is better able to vent his spleen with unadulterated hardcore. While I adhere to the principal that one should seldom allow oneself too much of the feeling that a song was tailor-made to their own life experiences, lest they become a smarmily sentimental, Brittney-consuming half-wit, I have to confess a moment of identification with Barrett's impressions of how Allston/Boston is being ruined by the now near-ubiquitous gentrification. I felt emotions closely akin to the one's expressed here when I visited last fall and couldn't find a block without a Dunkin' Donuts AND a CVS, but no more used book stores and falafel shacks - so much for the oldest and biggest American college town! Any song that references pulling into Kenmore Square by way of Storrow Drive can't help to tug at an ex-Allstonian's heartstrings, no? Other stand-out rock numbers include the title track and an homage to Sammy 'the Bull' Gravano's stay in witness protection (complete with a spoken-word recording of the hitman himself) which probably has the best hook on the album, 'Mr. Moran.'

The Bosstones play as tightly as ever, with excellent backing vocal and horn arrangements. One misses Farley's playing, but Barrett's lyrics continue to click on all cylinders, even if they don't always ring with profundity on the more 'party-friendly' numbers. He also continues to grow as a vocalist, singing with more warmth, better intonation, and a wider range, although he retains his trademark growling 'yawp' for use as needed.

I have seen some reviews which bemoan the fact that Jackknife was recorded at all, saying that the Bosstones haven't re-invented their sound, that their time has come and gone, etc. In other words, all of the typical lazy, jaded garbage that ill-tempered reviewers write when they don't take the time to listen closely or worse, write the review before they get the CD. With all of the nonsense that is being fired at our ears by the major labels in the past couple of years, I am glad that the Bosstones haven't re-invented their sound, choosing instead to subtly tweak it to keep things fresh. While exhibiting musical growth, they have recorded a strong collection of songs after more than a decade together as a band. How many other artists can one say that about in 2002?

-Dr. Christian Carey. New Jersey. September 16, 2002.