The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Pay Attention (Explicit Version)

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Music reviews of Pay Attention (Explicit Version)

Music Review: Shut Up, Sit Down, and Pay Attention-The Bosstones are Back!
Rating: 5 Stars

I think the first thing I need to say is that my hopes, expectations, and even demands for this album were extremely high. So high, they were probably unfair, and I was probably too rough on this band. But in my mind, Let's Face It was OK at best. It seemed lead singer Dicky Barrett had been caught in a rut with his songwriting, and it showed on that record. The fact the record broke the Bosstones big thanks to the ubitquotous single Impression That I Get, a song I've never truly been any kind of fan of, probably didn't help matters.

And so, it was back on a Sunday afternoon last December, at the legendary Middle East club in Cambridge, MA during the Bosstones annual five day run known as the "Hometown Throwdown" (see review) that I got my first taste of Pay Attention. They played two new songs that day and both, in their own seperate ways, tore the roof off the joint. And both made me really excited for this album, and they also put the previously mentioned huge expectations into place.

It's also obvious that the Bosstones could have made an album that had twelve Impressions on it, but they chose not too. Instead, Barrett became much more introspective on some tracks, while sticking with his cool way of telling stories on some others. And it is the tremendous growth, both lyrically and musically, that makes this album so good. Produced by Paul Q. Kolderie, Sean Slade, and the band, the record flows smoothly from one track to the next. Despite the fact the horn section is not nearly as important as Nate Albert's guitar, it doesn't disrupt the flow, and the Bosstones still retain their pop sensibilities on more than a few of the tracks. (Side note on Albert-he left the group after recording for this album was finished)

The album's opening track, Let Me Be, seems to be about a number of things. Fame, uncertainty and inadequacy all seem to be tackled in the lyrics: "I'm unfit to steer this vessel...Time to let the troops regroup...It will take a while to unscramble, let me rant and let me ramble, let me be!"

The Skeleton Song is a punky, poppy number in the vein of previous Bosstone classics like Someday I Suppose and Kinder Words. According to Barrett, this song is about feeling invincible, being on MTV and on the Billboard charts, and juggling two girlfriends during it all, and how he had to look in the mirror to take himself down off that pedestal. The lines "You're not being honest really, you're really not and ought to be, take an honest look at yourself, try a little honesty" are delivered just as catchy as the lyrics in Impression... but the substance speaks volumes more.

All Things Considered deals with fare a lot less serious, telling the story of an old guy who loves to tell the tallest of tall tales. The song is humorous, as this guy supposedly "trained a kid named Cassius Clay," "wrote the soundtrack to A Hard Day's Night," and "on Peyton Place played second base, he said but he regrets, the Stadium was Shea, the team the New York Mets." This is an all too obvious reference to Bill Buckner and the 1986 World Series. The song is the most straight ska song on the record, and is just incredibly catchy and addictive.

So Sad to Say, the first single, seems to build on The Skeleton Song, not only lyrically, but musically as well, as it could be considered that song's twin brother. It deals with Dicky's obvious regret over one of the relationships coming to an end due to his own stupidity. Barrett's lyrics here are straight to the point, and very powerful:"Parting this way is not the way we ever thought, in fact I always thought we'd go the distance, but we went nowhere quick, so sad it makes me sick." If this is Barrett's apology, that's one hell of an apology.

Allow Them, which sees the Bosstones tackling their ska-core roots, rocks, period. The song itself is a straight on attack of seedy record executives in "the designer suit and tie." The song is also most likely a response to the record....

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