Sublime: 40oz To Freedom

It's been a long and wild ride since SUBLIME played their first gig back in the summer of l988. Any local scenester will tell you they were there, and that it was this performance that ignited the infamous "Peninsula Riot" of Long Beach in an explosive July 4th engagement. SUBLIME, once the "below average garage punk band that every kid wants to play his party," has steadily escalated from backyard beer buddies, into a prestigious musical entity. Their underground credibility has landed them slots with everyone from The Melvins and The Vandals to Firehose, HR of Bad Brains and Eek-a-Mouse. They played the "bar-b-que" band on the LA stop of the Butthole Surfers-Stone Temple Pilots "Endless Bummer" tour. Sublime's recording history began in early '92 when they teamed up with Long Beach's legendary SKUNK RECORDS to create a cult masterpiece '40 oz. TO FREEDOM.' Two years, three vans, and five tours later, the CD has sold in excess of 30,000 units.- without a distributor! The "40 oz" record is still charting at the top of most local alternative retail charts two years after its initial release. Front man Brad Nowell contends, "We practically distributed the thing out of the trunks of our cars."

40 oz. to Freedom is the most original sounding album you will ever hear. Originally, all I had was their big self-titled one, and I only enjoyed the punk songs on it. After getting this one, I only liked the punk songs on it, like 40 oz. and Hope. Then, I really started to dig the reggae style they produced, and they created the perfect blend of reggae and bass. After listening to it more and more, I slowly began to like more of their songs, one track at a time. Eventually, it got to pretty much all of them, and it is one of the only ones I can listen to from the beginning to the end.

The band is actually able to carry out a party atmosphere on this album. The drummer is good, the bassist is brilliant, and the lead singer Bradley Nowell is a legend among songwriters. If you love music, you'll love this album. Only on 40 oz. to Freedom would you find total hip hop, upbeat punk, southern California ska, and a style of reggae you won't find down in the Caribbean.

Nobody is even trying to create a sound like Sublime did, and it will never be duplicated. I highly suggest this cd instead of the others, because it is the only one where reggae rules. The others where great, but it was almost as if Bradley said, "Okay, we mastered reggae, now let's try something else." The second album Sublime made, Robbin' the Hood, is mostly hip-hop and pure ska. Their self-titled is an ingenious blend of everything, but the reggae somewhat lacks on this one when compared to 40 oz.

I never even liked reggae before hearing this album; now I can't get enough. Unfortunately, there are very few albums out there that have this kind of style. And basically, it sucks.

Sublime: 40oz To Freedom

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