Give a Monkey a Brain and He'll Swear He's the center of Universe  

Out Of all the fishbone albums. This one is probably the Hardest, heaviest, angriest, album out of thier columbia albums, and thier most directly to the point out of all of them. Where all of the other kinda toyed around with you for awhile amoungst the message, this one is a full-on brutal assault, while still remaining far more eclectic, than most hard rock out there, and still maintaining traces of the funk, and ska they have been carrying with them. Though it is slightly more straitforward than Reality of my surroundings.

...First of all, I am a huge fan of Fishbone...or at least I WAS until Kendall Jones and Chris Dowd left and the band started releasing sub-par material left and right ("Give a Monkey a Brain" was their last great album, in my opinion). If you are not familiar with Fishbone, you may want to first purchase "Truth and Soul" and/or "In Your Face" (which are both fantastic albums and more "commercial" sounding than this one) before you dive into the heavy-duty nuttmeg of "Give a Monkey..."
I think this album along with "Reality of My Surroundings" are Fishbone's greatest...This one is their heaviest, featuring a few "metal" songs ("Swim", "Servitude", and "End the Reign"). These songs are some of the greatest on the album but I think some fans couldn't hang with that..."Unyielding Conditioning" (ska) and "Lemon Meringue" (soul/funk) are two of the most well written songs ever by Fishbone. "Nutt Megalomaniac" is funky as hell. "They All Have Abandoned Their Hopes" is a hauntingly apocalyptic song...one of my favorites. "Warmth of Your Breath" is definitely NOT a love song. It's a funky little speed metal ditty directed at certain police officers...
The entire cd is awesome, no weak songs. The musicianship is outstanding...Norwood's bass lines are as funky as ever (especially on "Lemon Meringue")...Kendall Jones and John Bigham lay down some great guitar and Angelo Moore and Chris Dowd's vocals are some of their best work ever. This album sounds fresh to this day...Fishbone WAS one of the most underrated bands ever and they never got the success a group of this magnitude deserved. This was the last album they did with Kendall Jones and Chris Dowd and, for me at least, their departure marked the end of Fishbone as we knew it. I have the albums that followed and while they have some good songs here and there they don't come close to matching Fishbone when they were in their heyday. Kendall Jones' songwriting skills are sorely missed on all the albums that followed.
"Give A Monkey..." is a like an all-you-can-eat buffet for the ears but it will take most people several listens to uncover all the sonic nuggets that are hidden.

My fave Fishbone album. This one has it all- a seamless, and I mean seamless, blend of styles. I'm not talking Mr. Bungle mix of styles (not that it's a bad thing- far from it, long live the cult of Patton) I'm talking each song sounds like the pinacle of whatever genre Fishbone happen to inhabitting/shredding at that given moment.

Take your pick- maelstrom-metal, funk, ska, reggae, psychedelia, and even a hint at Gospel (No Fear- stylisticaly- is a gospel song... well, the organ just makes it sound like Gospel, or in this case Gospel-funk rock without the odious 'oh-please-breathe-on-me-oh-God lyrics and afro-american yodeling that passes for gospel singing... militant atheist that I am...)

On ONE FREAKIN ALBUM!!!! They manage to summon the mothership, send out the best mosh-anthem I have EVER heard, Channel the ghosts of Eddie Hazel and Sid Vicious (in one song no less), crank out one of the few reggae tunes I can stomach, skank-their way to paradise in a way that most 3rd wave skasters can only drool at, Out Kool both Kool AND The Gang and invent a cure for sanity and the drab pabulum that chokes media of all species.

I mean, it's just impossible to take any of the 'hard' bands out there seriously after putting their albums next to this. They seem flat, monochromatic, lifeless, dull. Unfunky. Lyricallly Fishbone may not be the most original but they play to their strengths, are inventive and funny and certainly capable of stuff as poignant/eloquent as anything that 'Dear Charlotte' have ever penned.

And yet, this album kinda tanked (despite their prominent Lollapalooza placement... I don't get it- that was the first year that People bitched about Lollapalooza- year 3... but Primus? Dinosaur Jr? and Fishbone? It was one of the best shows I'd ever seen, ah but I digress...)

These guys couldn't fail even if they were drop-kicked into the studio with Avril, baby Spice, Nick carter, the result wold still leave you wondering what the hell assulted you and left you wanting more...

Oh, I'm 25 years old and have been to more concerts than I can recall and still will unhesitatingly state that Fishbone put on THE BEST live show I have ever seen- I don't care what your bag is, The Bone will stuff it for you. And they play for hours. You will leave the venue sore and deaf and maybe (as I have been known to do) you will drive a couple hours to see them again the next night in a different town or state.

Album sells have never been FISHBONE's forte. Because their albums are ahead of our time. This 1993 rockfest of 'GIVE A MONKEY A BRAIN AND HE'LL SWEAR HE'S THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE',whew, is the hardest FISHBONE has ever been. 'THE REALITY OF MY SURROUNDINGS', their best album, was close. If you just wanna rock hard there is "Swim","Servitude","Black Flowers","Warmth Of Your Breath","End The Reign","Drunk Skitzo" and "No Fear". The funk and reggae/ska songs are here but this is more of a rock album than a FISHBONE album, which is cool, but the fun out of FISHBONE albums, the humor,is not in this one. Too much of serious KENDALL? (the first member to leave the band). The album is good, but it's just NOT a FISHBONE album.

This album has aged amazingly well - whenever I'm in the mood for Fishbone, I put this one on. Although "Truth & Soul" is probably their best, it sounds a bit dated today. "Monkey" is simply amazing in its breadth, from the crunching metal of "Servitude" (which at first I didn't like but might now be my favorite track) to the more melodic rock of "Black Flowers" and "No Fear", to the straight-up P-Funk style "Lemon Meringue", to the fantastic sunny ska of "Unyielding Conditioning", quite possibly one of the happiest-sounding tunes ever recorded (though with somber lyrics). This is the last album recorded before the weirdness with Kendall caused the band to turn into the "speed metal with horns" incarnation. This album captures that ferocity balanced with the melodic hooks of their previous works. You gotta love it.

Give a Monkey a Brain blends ska, punk, soul, funk and metal together to produce 12 good tracks. From the ska influenced "They all have abandoned their hopes" to the funky "Nutt Megalomaniac" Fishbone manage to keep their own style flowing, despite the fact they skip genres every other song. This CD is at its best when the funk and harmonies take control.