It is a hugely significant album, not just for being a hit in its own right, but also as being a key influence for many of the ska-punk bands that followed it. Many of the albums that I've previously reviewed probably would not exist if it weren't for this album. So while I took my sweet time to discover Sublime, really they've been with me ever since I got hooked on my an Area-7 song many years beforehand.
Trenchtown Rock is perhaps a declaration/warning that things are gonna get weird! While I wouldn't really listen to it in isolation, it never fails to whet my appetite for the rest of the album and I do appreciate the weirdness.
If George Gershwin was covered in tatts and was partial to a bit of surfing, Doin' Time is exactly the song he would have written! The groove works perfectly as a beach chillout song. And while the lyrics are actually quite melancholy, I find they just add a reflective edge without dragging things down. A minor hifi whinge is that the bass guitar is quite boomy on this song.
This dub-reggae style is a common theme on this album, and Pawn Shop is one of my favourites. Thanks to the rock-solid groove, I feel this reggae trance could go on for hours, without ever becoming boring. Jailhouse achieves similar success. On the other hand, somehow Under My Voodoo doesn't appeal to me, and that's before we get into the stupid ending. And even though Caress Me Down was a few years ahead of Shaggy, that doesn't excuse the cringeworthy style that just screams "white boy tryhard".
The chorus of The Ballad of Johnny Butt doesn't really work for me, but I'll give them kudos for trying something different, as well as for yet another brilliant reggae groove. The rocksteady style all comes together perfectly for Get Ready, though. With the subtle menacing groove perfectly complemented by the paranoid lyrics.
While they sound very different on the surface, Get Ready actually uses a similar approach to April 29 1992. The minimalist groove and paranoid anarchy lyrics are used by both to great effect. The difference is mainly that the offbeat guitar takes on a sharper edge for April 29 1992. This style of guitar is quite unique, yet the way it manages to be both bouncy and aggressive at the same time is brilliant. While I'm not an arsonist, my favourite part of the song is the overlapping lyrics of "Riots on the streets of Miami, riots on the streets of Chicago, ..." and "Wanna let it burn, let it burn, let it burn".
Another timeless classic is Santeria. The bouncy instrumentals hold it together nicely, allowing the lyrics freedom to go on whatever brilliantly mad journey they fancy. But actually, the lyrics perfectly walk the line of being just comprehensible enough to understand the story, yet wonderfully illustrative though delusional mad genius.
Listening to Wrong Way, I struggle to understand why I enjoy it so much. The sound is thin, the groove is not particularly strong and while I always thought the song had a great structure using subtle build-ups throughout, I've discovered it's actually quite flat and I had been imagining most of the ebbs and flows. But the overall verdict is still the same. While it may be a dog's breakfast of a song, somehow I still think it's brilliant.
The single version of What I Got never really did it for me. While it had a cool chillout vibe, I felt all the production heaped on it was making too big a deal of a humble song. Luckily, this version of the album also includes a less produced version, which I think suits the song perfectly.
Cranking up the tempo and intensity, Seed is a reggae song, a ska song and a punk song all awkwardly shoehorned together. But in the immature ska spirit, these ridiculous abrupt jumps appeal in their own right- a rebellion against musical convention. Since the three sections are all appealing in isolation, it works well.
On the other hand, Burritos follows all the rules, resulting in a run-of-the-mill 3rd wave ska song. But there's nothing wrong with that in my book! Highlights for me are the immature lyrics and general "bounciness". Same In The End is similar, yet even better. Its headbanging chorus is a highlight, as is the lyrics which are at a million miles an hour and jump all over the place.
Sorry, this post is getting quite TLDR. To quickly wrap up, Garden Grove is quite aimlessly rambling, but for me that's kinda the appeal. And it works well as the final song on the album.
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