Sublime - 40 Oz. To Freedom.
Sure, it is a rebellious, trend sparking album bubbling with attitude and venom and many many kids, teens and social outcasts love it. Sometimes kids like very very good things. One should really take notice!
Musicianship: Scrape away all you know about the drugs, death, drama and turmoil surrounding Sublime and focus exclusively on their music... the notes, the melodies, the transitions, the accents, the basslines, the song structures and most importantly the incredibily meticulous attention to detail cleverly hidden under a "punk rock guise" here. This group was remarkably talented. I urge anyone with a hint of music background to give this record a spin and put an intelligent ear to some of what lurks in this album. Sublime alone was a ferrocious three piece unit, but they are fearless and absolutely bullet proof when they are joined by their friends, recording engineers, Djs, guest horn players, extra percussions, guitars, toasters etc. etc. This was a "super-nova" recording. The odds of these specific people coming together in this complex arrangement and creating this collection of sound waves is remarkable. The only recent musical statement I can mildly compare it to in this regard is the under-appreciated Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys from 1989. An intelligent sensitive ear will sense the white hot energy in these grooves. This album flirts with danger like a stuntman. It has teeth too. It has sharp wit, street cred and a biting sense of humor. 40 oz. burns with frightening raw power. It hits nerves in the stomach the way Guns and Roses did with Sweet Child O'Mine. It revisits the rush kids get from shoplifting a candybar or lighting a fire or discovering your Dad's Playboy stash for the first time. It is that good.
In the early to mid 90's NOBODY was making music like this. NOBODY was sampling Eazy E next to the Specials, Bad Religion, Jimmy Cliff, Kurtis Blow and the Minutemen (to name a few!). This sort of thing was the work of lunatic bravery which could have easily failed miserably. This is a painting that uses ALL the paint tubes and stays together by miracle.This album could easily have fallen HARD off it's track and burned up before anyone outside of LBC even took notice.
Sublime pulled this off and it is a truly SACRED recording. C&P.

Waiting For My Ruca
40oz. To Freedom
Smoke Two Joints
We're Only Gonna Die For Our Arrogance
Don't Push
5446 That's My Number / Ball And Chain
Badfish
Lets Go Get Stoned
New Thrash
Scarlet Begonias
Live At E's
D.J.S
Chica Me Tipo
Right Back
What Happened
New Song
Ebin
Date Rape
Hope
KRS-One