Punknews.org

|
Sign In | create an account

Buck-O-Nine

Songs in the Key of Bree (1994)
Ska and Reggae

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: facetofacereunion08
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on July 31st 2007

With Buck-O-Nine's first album in over eight years coming out in a few weeks, I felt it would be an appropriate time to go back to the beginning and review their debut effort, Songs in the Key of Bree. In my opinion, this particular album and Less than Jake's Losing Streak are the two best ska-punk albums of the `90s.

Bree is filled with jumpy and fast upstroke guitars, catchy horn lines, and fun, energetic vocals courtesy of singer Jon Pebsworth. All 19 tracks are fun to listen to and make up a perfect summer album to blast while driving down the freeway with your windows down. While it's hard to make a ska album not seem repetitive, Buck-O-Nine do a perfect job of mixing fast ska-punk with straight-up ska songs and even throw some more chill reggae songs into the bunch.

The album opens strongly with "Barfly," a song that shows off the tight horn section, lightning fast upstroke guitar, and a catchy melody which makes you just wanna get up and start skanking right then and there. The album never lets up from there. The song "Tool" has the best horn line i've ever heard in a ska song next to LTJ's "Scott Farcas Takes It on the Chin." Fan favorite "Irish Drinking Song" is a very fun song in the vein of Flogging Molly that has got to be a blast to experience in the live setting.

Another great song, "Voice in My Head" has two versions to listen to depending on your mood. The first is a ska version and then the album is rounded out with a more punked up version of the song, both which are good in their own right.

The band takes a shot at `80s hair metal in the track "I Don't Wanna Be No J.B.J.," which contains the great lines of "I don't wanna be no Jon Bon Jovi / Grow my hair down to my buttcheeks / Don't wanna be no Jon Bon Jovi / Wearing leather pants on MTV." I know a lot of people are not fans of overly goofy ska á la some of Reel Big Fish's songs, but I feel that this record doesn't quite fall under that category overall.

Overall, Songs in the Key of Bree just plain rocks. I know that I will be coming back to it many times for years to come and it will always have me singing along. I don't see how any fan of ska, punk, or music in general could not enjoy listening to this.

Login to rate this album

People who liked this also liked:

Please login or register to post comments.

What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?

Share your opinion by posting comments on the stories that interest you
Rate music and bands and help shape the weekly top ten
Let Punknews.org use your ratings to help you find bands and albums you might like
Customize features on the site to get the news the way you want.

CANDYPATROL (August 3, 2007)

is
S
H
A
R
T
C
O
R
E

Anonymous (August 1, 2007)

hells yeah the pass the dutchie e.p. is soooooo rad. but for real that is a great e.p. "Split" will always be one of my favorite $1.09 tunes

Anonymous (July 31, 2007)

Irish Drinking Song was directly lifted from a Saturday Night Live skit. It was from St. Patrick's Day 1990. I remember it distinctly 'cause the Pogues were the musical guests.

Anonymous (July 31, 2007)

good album. 28 teeth is a bit better, as it is the best one. also the pass the dutchie ep is kind of undiscovered goodness. definitely pick that gem up if you like 28 teeth. new record is pretty good too.

Anonymous (July 31, 2007)

D
E
A
T
H
C
O
R
E

skolarx (July 31, 2007)

amazing, this is the album that got me into ska back in november of 94. still remember that it was the "irish drinking song" that made me want to go out and buy the record.

Anonymous (July 31, 2007)

i saw these dudes open for face to face about 10 years ago. it was a good show, and i really dug a few of their songs (my town, 19 ect) but saying this is one of the best skap-punk albums of the decade is insane. i'd rather listen to the bosstones, suicide machines, against all authority, assorted jellybeans, falling sickness and rancid's "life wont wait" then this.

punk_rawk_show (July 31, 2007)

My Town and Nineteen are the greatest songs, i cant fucking wait for the new album. They released a new song on their myspace today, havnt checked it out but the song the released before sounded sick.

Cos (July 31, 2007)

In my opinion, this particular album and Less than Jake's Losing Streak are the two best ska-punk albums of the `90s.

Buck O' Nine isn't even close. I have this album; there's nothing wrong with it, other than its a little over-long. Its average to slightly better-than for 90's ska--punk. But in the same era, you can choose anything by the Bosstones ("More Noise..." or "Let's Face It" are my favs), the first two Suicide Machines CDs, other LTJ albums ("Pezcore" or "Hello Rockview"), all of which are far superior.

Anonymous (July 31, 2007)

this is garbage. seriously, wtf?

thepuglife (July 31, 2007)

why now?