Sublime with Rome

Sublime with Rome: Yours TrulyYours Truly (2011)
Fueled By Ramen Records

Reviewer Rating: 2.5

User Rating:

Contributed by: SumWonSumWon
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on July 29th 2011Can't we forget the comparisons to Brad Nowell's Sublime and judge this record on its own merits? Hell no we can't. Not after the surviving members underwent a months-long legal battle to retain the right to use that polarizing word. They wanted the name, and, to some degree, they got it. Now .

Can't we forget the comparisons to Brad Nowell's Sublime and judge this record on its own merits?

Hell no we can't.

Not after the surviving members underwent a months-long legal battle to retain the right to use that polarizing word. They wanted the name, and, to some degree, they got it. Now they get the baggage that comes with it.

Yours Truly isn't a bad record, but it is a witless and anxiety-riddled appeal to the mainstream. The lead single, "Panic" is the edgiest song on the album. This is problematic because it is a careful rehash of a number of Sublime's punkier songs from 15 years ago. With "Panic", the group announces their agenda to Live in the Past instead of build on it, and this theme is prevalent throughout. Rome Ramirez's clunky lyric "My head's up in the clouds / And I like it that way and there's no coming down" in the structurally unimaginative, psuedo-punk "My World" is uneasily reminiscent of the Nowell lyric "The real world always gets the last word / That's why you gotta kick reality" from the progressive, actual-punk "New Thrash" from nearly two decades prior. This sort of nostalgic throwup (pun intended) pervades Yours Truly. Ramirez strains so desperately to be like Nowell that one gets the impression he would have ate Nowell's brains if doing so would let the former write like the latter. Ironically, the only part of Ramirez not straining in imitation is his silky voice-the one thing that he should be straining when he croons instead of shouts the silly lyrics above.

Ramirez doesn't do much better when he looks to reggae standards for inspiration, singing "She's a murdera" with dreadful emphasis on the clichéd slang spelling (once again advertising his artistic insecurity). When he steps out completely on his own, the contextual awkwardness can be astounding, as in "Take It or Leave It", where he can't seem to figure out if he's singing to his girlfriend or about her. But that's not to say that there isn't some catchy music here. It's all within the okay-to-good range, and one gets the impression that Rome and his production crew are the responsible parties. Less responsible, it seems, is "Sublime", who seem not to make much of an impact except a couple of bars from the Long Beach Dub Allstars song "Rosarita" thrown into "PCH". That's not much of an achievement.

Now, for a moment, imagine if the band had decided to build their own foundation, and this album was the result. They would have had a pleasant if somewhat dull pop album, and that's nothing to sneeze at. Sure, the record is filled with nice, polished touches indicative of big budgets and professional producers-luxuries the new group undoubtedly wouldn't yet have had access to without a little exploitation of the dead, but sugary tracks like "You Better Listen" and "PCH" very well could have set the new act towards pop success on their own merits. It might have taken more time that way, but if that time would have allowed Ramirez to find his own creative voice, then it would have been worth the wait for both band and listener. As it is, Ramirez will likely find himself stunted by this experience, continuing to slaver to sound like someone he isn't. If he does eventually trod his own creative path (or if Sublime with Rome hits big on the radio), he will likely shed the incestuous Sublime baggage anyways, as he would no longer need its protective shell.

They haven't earned their publicity this go-round, so if you spend your hard-earned money on this, you're getting it the "wrong way."

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

fuckin_ay (October 8, 2011)

hands down the worst review on this website - I honestly don't believe they accepted it

lookingforcorpses (August 2, 2011)

Be better if it were Sublime, In Rome, preferably in the Coliseum vs lions.

davebrave4 (August 1, 2011)

I'd say Paul is no less chill than the reviewer. I agree with him--this is the most biased and probably one of the worst reviews I've read since I started frequenting this site back in 2005.

lukabratzi (August 1, 2011)

I've never smoked enough pot to like Sublime

lostcausegiveup (August 1, 2011)

hey paul, chill the fuck out. it's a review, the guy who wrote it didn't kill your dog. and of course it's "biased". any review of music is subjective to the tastes and ears of the writer. that's the point of a review.

oh yeah, sublime with rome suck, paul. just so you know.

jakegreen (August 1, 2011)

if the had named the band anything else i might consider that this is anything more than a cash grab.

paulrulzdood (August 1, 2011)

this is as assholish and completely biased of a review i've ever seen on this website, and misinformed as well. I could go nit-pick apart many things in this review, but here's just one:

"Sure, the record is filled with nice, polished touches indicative of big budgets and professional producers—luxuries the new group undoubtedly wouldn't yet have had access to without a little exploitation of the dead"

Oh really? You don't think Paul Leary would work with Bud and Eric again post-Brad? he already did, he was the producer behind LBDA 2001 album. a decade ago. Get informed next time. Paul Leary is friends with Bud and Eric.

when i read one factually inaccurate statement in a review, i can only assume the rest of your review is chock-full of bullshit. In your efforts to be scathing, you forgot to actually look shit up.

Sure, this isn't as good as Sublime. But Brad killed himself and Badfish have been eating Bud and Eric's lunch for some time now, so why not let two of the three original members be a "sublime cover band" instead? Shit, at least you're getting the legit rhythm section. And it's been 15 years, which i think is long enough to bring that 90s Sublime music to a new generation and a generation of late 20s/early 30s fans who never got to see them back in the early-mid 90s (like me).

this isn't Sublime, it's Sublime with Rome. The core sound is still there, Rome is a solid vocalist and songwriter in his own merit. Not as good as Brad, but still pretty good. "Take it or leave it", "Murdera", "lovers rock", "panic"...these are all as good of songs as LBDA were cranking out and are almost on par with Brad's finer moments, and certainly superior to Brad's mediocre moments (let's not act like "seed", "ebin" or "new thrash" are better than what Rome is doing...Brad did write some duds, it wasn't all "santeria"'s.

Paul

scorpiondeathlock (August 1, 2011)

it'd be cooler if it was Sublime with Jim Rome....

TahoeJeff (August 1, 2011)

I enjoyed the record. I mean it is obvious that Rome is trying totally trying to ape Brad, but its not a bad record. It's a decent record by probably the world's best Sublime cover band.

davebrave4 (August 1, 2011)

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the notion that these guys shouldn't be performing under the name "Sublime" is simply a reflection of our culture's obsession with frontmen. Yes, I realize that Brad was Sublime's primary songwriter; but the other guys clearly put a lot of effort into practicing and performing, both on stage and in the studio; and their work with later bands shows that they have merit as songwriters themselves. Regardless of the quality of this album, neither Rome nor his companions deserve the amount of flak they've been getting for performing together and recording this album.

OVERdefined (July 31, 2011)

I don't think Sublime is "over-rated" per se. They don't really have a great reputation anymore - they're looked at as white boy reggae for keg parties and frat guys. Plus, I think that the people who like them genuinely really like them. It's not a hype thing or a band you're "supposed to like" by any means.

dlangl4 (July 31, 2011)

This would be better if it were Sublime without Rome and also without Sublime.

TheGuwumpkis (July 30, 2011)

This album surprised me, when i first heard they were getting together as "Sublime with Rome" i almost fucking puked. Good record in my shitty opinion.

d_boons_ghost (July 30, 2011)

"Panic" is not an awesome song. "Panic" sounds like something the original Sublime would have made if they took their music to a fucking focus group.

telegraphrocks (July 30, 2011)

"Panic" is a pretty awesome song, but the rest is quite boring.

I still don't think that "Sublime" should be part of this band's name at all. Pretty insulting.

evildeadalive (July 30, 2011)

Sounds like fucking Bruno Mars... I hate Bruno Mars.

Apeman_on_the_moon (July 30, 2011)

Sublime is the most overrated band of the 90's.

feloniousjive (July 29, 2011)

I havent heard it, and Im not going to try, but good review. Back in high school I used to love Sublime...but one of the reasons I stopped listening to them was I realized Bradley's lyrics actually pretty bad (with some exceptions)...I cant imagine them getting even worse. Way to end on a pun!

MuhammadMormon (July 29, 2011)

There is so much wrong with this album/bamd, I don't know where to start... so I won't.

Terrible, all-around.

ak3punk (July 29, 2011)

My favorite album of the summer, I'm really enjoyin this album. It's too bad they call themselves Sublime, it sounds Sublime influenced but it doesn't sound like Sublime. Great album regardless.

dev (July 29, 2011)

Not a bad record at all. Some of these early comments prove quite decisively that people are only hating it because they're supposed to.

Anarchypants (July 29, 2011)

Chill the fuck out, it's a decent record.

eatdogs (July 29, 2011)

oh, sorry. the rating didn't show up once my screen loaded...

anyway, i haven't heard a single track from this, but i assume it sounds like sublime mixed with long beach dub allstars and maybe some 311...

eatdogs (July 29, 2011)

wait wait wait, we can actually give an album zero stars instead the usual one and-a-half???

mikeoldcrap (July 29, 2011)

I expected much, much worse. I mean it isn't great, but the dumb stoner kids that actually pay money for Sublime will eat it up, and I think the surviving members deserve the attention. It is not their fault their band imploded because their front man was shooting up heroin with fucking coat hangers.

Skibz777 (July 29, 2011)

I've always held the firm belief that one should listen to all music objectively instead of comparatively, lest they be disappointed every time...however, in this situation, not only does it deserve to be listened to comparatively, either way it's probably going to suck.