The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – Medium Rare

In my year end review for 2007 I talked about it being the year of the reunions. Everyone seemed to make a comeback, Hot Water Music, Lifetime, American Steel and more. I wished for Jawbreaker to reunite and lo-and-behold the band soon announced that they had jammed together a few months prior. But amongst all the kafuffle, I had forgotten one very important band that had decided to give it one more shot: the ever almighty Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

It had been five years since they last released new material, A Jackknife To A Swan, and in late 2007 they decided to give it another go. On top of performing five sold out shows in Boston as part of the Hometown Throwdown series, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones also gave their ever faithful fans a collection of b-sides and rarities with Medium Rare.

The thirteen track album features songs recorded over a period of time spanning over a decade, from as early as 1994’s Chocolate Pudding straight up to three brand new songs, The List, Don’t Worry Desmond Dekker, and The One With The Woes All Over It. Despite the time difference in the songs, the album flows perfectly. The only song that sticks out a bit is the aforementioned Chocolate Pudding which is in fact a cover and sounds slightly similar to The Toasters taking on Planet Smashers’ My Decision.

But even while it sticks out a bit in the mix, the song soon melts back into the flow and leads into Is It seamlessly. It also enables the band to showcase their reggae influenced while the rest of the songs are much more standard Bosstones songs, if you could call a Bosstones song standard. There’s the gravely vocals of Dicky Barret with the upstroke and experimentation in the punk rock tune. Add in the well place horns and insanely catchy back-up vocals and you’re all set.

Just the right amount of variation amongst the songs to keep the album from becoming repetitive will still letting in fit together. There’s the danceable and slightly slower Don’t Worry Desmond Dekker, the two-toned To California, and the slightly darker and more punk oriented So Many Ways and Katie and the full blown ska track Who’s Fooling Who?. They cap it all off with the mellowest but most powerful tracks on the record: Favorite Records which sees the band thanking their influences for their favourite albums.

Since getting a hold of this album, I’ve listened to it a good two dozen times, maybe even more, and I’m still not bored with it. Even though it only features three new songs with the rest being b-sides and rarities, The Bosstones have delivered an album that is more complete and stronger than most albums. Let’s just hope this, along with the Hometown Throwdown experience, is enough to convince them to get back into the studio and give is a proper full length. Until then, this will satisfy your ska sweet tooth.