I FIFTH from Page 7
the album’s second side.
A more pointed example comes
from the lyrics of the album’s open
ingsong, ‘‘Don’tPushMeTooFar.”
"Pushing and shoving you want
to fight/ But I’ll turn around and I’ll
do what’s right/ I’ll walk away, I’ll
turn my back/ Hoping you’ll end
your useless attack/ Takes more of
a man to turn the other cheek.”
Nothing is too confusing there,
but the song continues, "Don’t
push me too far/ I might give in,
you might gel. hurt ... /I might
forget what I stand for.”
What is the use of standing for a
principle if it is to be tossed aside
when circumstances get harsh?
Social Justice cannot be faulted
for being apathetic, but the band
needs to focus and (direct its anger.
The band’s music is as good as that
of any positive hardcore band, but
it needs to push farther musically
and lyrically to best make its ideas
known.
The “Mashin’ Up the Nation”
album (Harvard Records under li
cense from Razorbeat Records) is a
collection of songs by 14 American
ska bands. These bands capture
the musical heritage but are more
interested in having fun than their
predecessors.
This compilation is part of an
American ska revival that is reach
ing back to thejamaican ska sound
which later developed into reggae.
Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Bunny
Wailer, Toots Hibbert and Peter
Tosh are among the many cur
rently popular reggae performers
with roots in the ska sound of the
early 1960s (Maximum Rocknroll,
October 1989).
These early performers often
sang about economic conditions
and racial unity. These themes
continued as ska migrated to Eng
land, where the Two-Tone record
label was born.
That label helped spread the ska
sound throughout Britain and
America and continued to empha
size racial harmony. Two-Tone
was the home of the Specials AKA,
who also did much to popularize
the ska sound.
Interestingly, the skinhead
movement began in Britain as the
Rude Boy (Rudie blues being the
roots of ska) and Mod styles fused
(ibid).
The skinheads initially thrived
on working class sentiments,
mixed freely with Blacks and en
couraged racial unity. It was only
later that skins were recruited by
neo-Nazi organizations like the
National Front and some of them
became violently white suprema
cist.
Ska now is reappearing
throughout the world. “Mashin’Up
the Nation” chronicles the resur
gence of ska in America.
If the bands on this album are
representative, American ska is
largely confined to the New Eng
land area. Four of the bands are
from Massachusetts, and only one
(Let’s Go Bowling) is from west of
the Mississippi.
These new skasters are more
interested in having fun than in the
social messages of their predeces
sors, with a few exceptions.
Bop Harvey’s “Bread and Cir
cuses” is one of these exceptions.
A lengthy song with a lively beat,
the song lies in the political ska
tradition with its questioning of the
Oliver North affair.
The chorus reads: “It’s bread
and circuses time/ Who’s going to
pay for all these crimes?”
Note Bob Marley’s “No Respect”
captures the plight of the poor in
this nation with a song recalling the
Specials AKA in its subject matter
and male-female harmonies.
Oddly Enough also evoke com
parisons tc the Specials AKA with
“Direction of a Faceless Expres
sion,a song about an encounter
with a homeless man.
All of these songs contrast
sharply with the personal harsh
ness of “Get Out” by The Now,
who sing, “Leave girl or I’ll throw
you out/ One of us has to go and
I’ve decided it’s you.”
Nowhere on the album can the
earlier ska concern for racial har
rftony be found. Public Service’s
note on the album cover that they
work “to transcend the barriers
inherent in popular music” is the
only hint at such sentiments.
The album contains songs dedi
cated to ska revival (New York Citi
zens’ “Rude Girls”) and having fun
(“Let’s Go Bowling”).
Some of the album’s best songs
are instrumentals like the tuba
charged “Phoenix City” of Les Mis
erables or Roland Alphonso’s
“Groucho Dub.”
aIso notable are a live song by
Bim Skala Bim recorded at CBGB’s
and “Drums and Chickens” by the
now-defunct Bosstones.
A second volume of this compi
lation is planned. It should con
tinue to capture ska’s musical heri
tage while portraying more of the
lyrical heritage.
Social Justice’s “Unity is Strength”
and “Mashin' Up the Nation” albums
both provided by Project Import.
f "^the
fifth
column
_album review
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