Better Than Nevermind - No. 3 : Fishbone - Reality Of My Surroundings

Fishbone - Reality of My Surroundings (Columbia)

One of the greatest enjoyments of my youth was to watch live bands and I have had the opportunity to see more than a hundred shows. But out of all the bands I have seen, Fishbone tops them all in terms of entertainment, groove, musicianship and fun. Truth & Soul was a good album, as varied and energetic as Fishbone can be, but the follow-up was their real masterpiece. It begins with one of their rockiest songs Fight The Youth, which struck a chord both musically and philosophically, at the times we were seeing the rearing of the ugly face of skinheads and neo-Nazi scum even in my small mining town. Almost three decades later, the music speaks volumes, be it the improvised bits like the jam at the end of So Many Millions, or all the interludes that are bear the title If I Were A, I’d… and were recorded live; although they saved the best for last, the outright clownesque Do The Housework or Pressure keep you going like only Fishbone could do. They manage to pull off Behavior Control Technician, one of the best heavy metal songs ever without being heavy metal per se, integrating the horns almost perfectly… The double whammy of Junkie Prayer (Zappaesque and crazy) and Pray to The Junkiemaker (funky and catchy) forces you into a hummable mood even though the lyrics are a brutally honest vignette of drug addiction. The album ends majestically with Sunless Saturday, ironically the first track of that album that I heard (from the videoclip on MuchMusic), a track that is rocking, thought provoking and infectious all at the same time. Rarely a band can have you entertained, amused and enlightened as such.