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Mighty Mighty Bosstones: From A Jackknife To A Swan

© Chad Bowar

The Boston based ska band Mighty Mighty Bosstones have been together for 17 years now, and are back with a brand new CD, A Jackknife To A Swan. The Bosstones are best known for their 1997 hit single "The Impression That I Get", but these guys are pioneers. They were one of the first bands to combine ska with punk and hard rock that paved the way for groups like No Doubt, Smashmouth, and Sublime.

A Jackknife To A Swan is the group's seventh full-length studio album, and combines punk, ska, and reggae. Lead singer Dicky Barrett thinks this is one of the Bosstones' best efforts. "I just want people who like the Bosstones to get this album and go, 'this is great. It's familiar yet new. It's what we've come to expect from these guys.' Those are the victories; that's what we shoot for, which is a lot."

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones recorded their debut album, Devil's Night Out, in 1990. The follow-up, 1992's More Noise and Other Disturbances, garnered a lot of interest from record companies, and they signed a major label deal with Mercury. That's when their career really took off, doing a jeans commercial, appearing in the movie Clueless, releasing Don't Know How to Party and Question All the Answers, and appearing on the main stage on the Lollapalooza tour in the span of a couple of years.

The momentum continued with their 1997 CD Let's Face It, which went platinum and spawned the aforementioned "The Impression That I Get". A live album was released in 1998, followed by 2000's Pay Attention.

For A Jackknife To A Swan, the Bosstones have severed their major label ties and released the CD on the Los Angeles based independent label Side One Dummy. According to Barrett, the band's new label is a "match made in heaven" after spending years fighting major label bureaucracy. "You don't want to live someplace where people aren't making you feel completely at ease. If one person at the label says 'I'm not feeling the Bosstones', then we're not feeling the house. It's like, 'alright, we'll take our enormous fanbase and the songs we believe in, and we'll go someplace else.'"

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are in fine form on From A Jackknife To A Swan. There is not a better party band in existence. The Bosstones get you dancing, feeling good, and are masters of combining ska, reggae, and punk. They sound rejuvenated on this CD, and it's a highly enjoyable listening experience.

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