The Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx  

What I liked: The songwriting has definitely evolved over the years. Angelo is still in top form, and the band sounds great! Spacey T may not have the singing or songwriting abilities that Kendall Jones did, but he can play solos that are definitely comparable to either Jones or John Bigham. Their cover of "Everybody Is A Star", featuring Gwen Stefani, George Clinton and Rick James, was exquisite! I also couldn't help but notice in "The Suffering" that it contained an expletive that was buried so well that it wasn't enough to warrant a "Parental Advisory" label. My favorite song is "One Planet People"; the melody and rhythm are infectious, the lyrics really make you think, and I like the Spanish part in the middle. And while "Where'd You Get Those Pants" may not be the most profound song on the album, it's got one of the best melodies i've ever heard them play.

What I didn't like: For starters, they were missing half of their original lineup; namely Kendall Jones and Chris Dowd. I liked their last two Columbia albums because of the fact that they had so many songs on them and that everybody who could sing or write had a chance to shine on those albums. This album seemed more uniform; only Angelo sang lead this time. Walt only sings on one track ("Dear God"), and let's face it; it's not his strongest moment. Also, the inner sleeve kind of sets you up for a wild & crazy album; yet, as one reviewer already pointed out, the only wild & crazy part was at the end of "Everybody is A Star". But my biggest problem with this album is that it was too short! The other albums I liked had 12, 14, or more songs on them; this one had 10! 10!!! It was like getting half an album! Were these the only songs that Disney would let them release? Or could it be that not having Kendall or Chris or any other prolific songwriters made it hard to come up with more than 10 songs?

In any case, I still wouldn't say it's their worst album. It's already been said that they seem to adhere to only funk and reggae, but there are elements of punk and metal that are cleverly buried in each song. I suppose that's why the album eventually grew on me the more I listened to it. I'd say, at the very least, get "Reality of My Surroundings" and "Truth and Soul" before you get this one; I'd also like to recommend "Give A Monkey A Brain and He'll Swear He's the Center of the Universe", but that album's gotten mixed reviews, so I'll leave it up to you.

This one took a while to grow on me, but I soon found myself working at the office and doing Walt's "Shaky Ground, Yeah..." under my breath. This is certainly a more mature Fishbone musically, and they show it by dabbling in many different genres...

The album starts with older R&B with a cover of "Shakey Ground", into a sugary pop ballad with "The Suffering", to an upbeat "Where'd you get those Pants" before coming back around to Sly Stone's "Everybody is a Star". The Suffering has particularily nice Lyrics. This is the strongest part of the album, and would be worth it as an EP.

"One Planet People" starts Fishbone going to a more World Music/Reggae sound. "Just Allow" is a more typical early Fishbone song, while "AIDS and Armageddon" has a nice hard blusey feel. "IAKSAOA" is by far the weakest track on the album. Dear God is a strange song but one I love. Norwood should be allowed to write songs more often.

The mixing and sound work on this album is bad even for a Fishbone album, but since when has that made a fishbone album bad?

The first initial time I listened to the CD, I really didn't like it, because it lacked the 'fishbone' sound I really liked on the first few cds; however, the more I listened to it and gave it a chance, sometimes the first time listening doesn't do any justice, which seems to be the case with a lot of the more negative reviews. Now I listen to it as much as the original fishbone cd, every day. Good disc!!

The old fishbone will never be back, but the new fishbone is pretty good. They will always miss Chris dowd and Kendall Jones. The new members are pretty good. Spacey T seems to be more in the vein of John Bingham than kendall jones. there are plenty of highlights on this album, especially Karma Tsunami. Angelo is in top form here, but the days of Reality of my Surroundings and Give a Monkey a brain seem to be gone. It is not their best album, but it is not their worse either. The reggae influence seems to be stronger than on other albums. Even an O.K. Fishbone is way better than most popular music. it would be wonderful if any of the departed members would come back to Fishbone. But no mattter their future they deserve to have a platinum album sometime in their career. Like Madness, Fishbone is one of the most underrated bands ever. Though nowhere near as good as their last two Columbia albums, it is still a good and innovative album, but ait could use a strong melodic influence ala Everyday Sunshine, Movement in the Light or Unyielding Conditioning. But some cuts come close to evincing the deep soulful funkiness of Lemon meringue. Still a very worthwhile addition to your Fishbone collection and an approachable starting place for the novice.

This is the dullest Fishbone album ever due to the project being railroaded by Disney. It's a very VH1 album. The crazy songs were kept off of the record, so the only freak out part on the disc is at the end of "Everybody is a Star". However, these 4 songs that were cut just came out as an EP. My advice? Get the CD off Napster and combine it on a CD-R with the leftovers EP, and then you will have a great album. Now, if you want a smoking new FB album pick up the "Temple Bar" EP, that one SMOKES.