Punknews.orgPunknews.org Logo
Review Navigator

BackForward

Features

 

Contests

 


Reviews



The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Live from the Middle East
1998
Mercury

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Live from the Middle East (Cover Artwork)


Review by: SumWon
See others by this writer



Only registered users
can post comments

Print this Review Send this Review to a Friend
Ska and Reggae (Logo)

Published on February 12th 2008

In the spirit of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ recent live reunion, I felt it appropriate to finally give 1998’s Live from the Middle East its due here on Punknews. The Bosstones were for my middle teenage years what G.I. Joes were to my preteen years -- something I held very close to my heart but now have very little to show for it. Around the age of 11, I seemingly woke up one day and decided that strapping Beach Head to a humungous firecracker and sending him into orbit was much more logically sound than deploying him on a Secret Ops mission into the brush in the front yard per usual. Similarly, a handful of years later I realized that if I hadn’t listened to an album in a couple months, I was “over it” and would never want to listen to it again. I inadvisably sold most of my once beloved Bosstones records to a local record shop for egregiously low prices. Now I am left with a mere few keepsakes of these departed times: Lt. Falcon, Battle Android Trooper, Ska-Core the Devil and More, and Let’s Face It.

Needless to say, I have made mistakes in my youth. This became especially obvious when, a half-dozen years later, I found Live from the Middle East, an album I overlooked at its time of release, in a thrift shop bin for 99 cents. I decided to “splurge” and pick it up. After a few listens, which I needed to grow accustomed to as it was a surprisingly low sound quality for such a then-popular act, I fully understood the error of the aforementioned ways -- the songs on this album, most of which I had long since forgotten, fucking rock. "Devil’s Night Out," "Cowboy Coffee," "737/Shoe Glue" -- all the early underground hits are included. From start to finish, this is a high-energy five-night collage of the Boston band’s annual Hometown Throwdown.

The Bosstones give us 22 songs, many of which bleed into each other with impressive seamlessness, to keep our hearts pumping. Unless you are a die-hard fan, however, 22 frantic songs may be a bit too much. They give the listener a chance to relax with "Royal Oil" and elements of "Hell of a Hat," but I still would gladly trade a couple faster cuts for their excellent Marley cover "Simmer Down" or their dawdling, ambiguous "Another Drinkin’ Song." Still, this frenzied pace is what the Bosstones were (mostly) about through 1998, so I can't raise too much of a fuss.

Overall, Live from the Middle East delivers goods a-plenty. Though lacking a bit in sound quality, the electrifying performance of nearly all their classics makes up for lost ground, virtually creating a live greatest hits collection. But excuse me, please, for I must now head outdoors to look skyward -- Beach Head might be on his way back down.



People who liked this also liked:
Operation Ivy - Operation IvyThe Clash - London CallingDescendents - Milo Goes To CollegeAgainst Me! - As The Eternal CowboyAlkaline Trio - GoddamnitNOFX - The DeclineWeezer - PinkertonJawbreaker - 24 Hour Revenge TherapyNOFX - Punk In DrublicThe Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site



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.

    Posted by BarleyPat on 2008-02-17 10:31:46
    My Score:

    I agree with all on here who said it is one of (if not the) best live album they own. Also agree w/ the guy below about "Hope I Never Lose My Wallet" and want to hear Toxic Toast live.

    The Bosstones. Perhaps the most unlikelly entry ever into the Org-Core Hall of Fame? Ska? Popular (at least for a moment)? No connections to Chicago OR Richmond? Discuss.

    Posted by telegraphrocks on 2008-02-15 17:03:09
    My Score:

    If you turn MMB upside-down, you get WWB!

    WOOOOOAAAAHHHHHHH!!!

    Score's for cancer.

    Posted by Hey_Asshole on 2008-02-13 21:28:14

    ATTN: 01011010

    you are correct. that was a fucking great trade

    Posted by paulrulzdood on 2008-02-13 15:40:33

    i meant insomniac not nimrod. I didn't get Nimrod until 2001 or so, after my 97-01 "I hate green day" phase. 18-20 year olds are so fucking stupid.

    Posted by paulrulzdood on 2008-02-13 15:38:49
    My Score:

    hahahaha, great review. I loved GI Joes too and have made some questionable moves at the used CD store i.e. in 1997 I decided Green Day were sellouts and sucked and sold Dookie, Kerplunk, smoothedout/slappy hours AND nimrod. I've since purchased them all again.

    Paul

    Posted by ozmanx on 2008-02-13 15:28:50
    My Score:

    Gotta wuv MMB.

    Posted by i-type-poorly on 2008-02-13 14:57:59
    My Score:

    Ten or die

    Posted by Oldpunkerforever on 2008-02-13 11:19:52
    My Score:

    medium rare is sweet indeed, well worth the money and its the bosstones!!!, listening to it on the way into work today, which to tooooo long with this freakin ice-oldpunker-

    Posted by weffjebster on 2008-02-13 11:17:49
    My Score:

    Best live album ever.

    Hope I Never Lose My Wallet is so much better live than in the studio.

    These guys need to tour again, because I've seen them like 9 times and I've NEVER seen them play Toxic Toast. I need to see that song live.

    Posted by obiwanspicoli on 2008-02-13 11:04:57
    My Score:

    I actually listened to this for the first time in december. Been a bosstones for a while but i never heard this record.

    Posted by baseball on 2008-02-13 09:55:46
    My Score:

    I haven't seen a review of "Medium Rare" yet... I'll probably end up buying it anyway, but I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on it.

    Medium Rare is great. It's just classic Bosstones, plain and simple. Definitely worth buying if you like the band at all.

    I love "Don't Worry Desmond Dekker".

    Posted by Jimmy_the_Saint on 2008-02-13 08:35:41
    My Score:

    Best live album.

    Posted by MN_punkmaster-skaman on 2008-02-13 02:38:39

    This is one of the best live albums I own. If anything, this is probably the best Bosstones record for someone to buy first.

    Posted by telegraphrocks on 2008-02-13 02:32:17
    My Score:

    Wow. Anyone NOT giving this a TEN should fucking shoot themselves in the knee-caps.

    Posted by bytheslice on 2008-02-13 01:42:50

    I wish I would've seen these cats live. This album rules.

    Posted by 01011010 on 2008-02-12 22:56:28

    01000010 01100001 01100011 01101011 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 00100111 00111000 00111001 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100111 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01000010 01100001 01110010 01110010 01111001 00100000 01000010 01101111 01101110 01100100 01110011 00100000 01110010 01101111 01101111 01101011 01101001 01100101 00100000 01100011 01100001 01110010 01100100 00101100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01000010 01101111 01100010 01100010 01111001 00100000 01000010 01101111 01101110 01101001 01101100 01101100 01101001 01100001 00100000 00101000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 01101111 00100000 01101001 01101101 01110000 01110010 01100101 01110011 01110011 01101001 01110110 01100101 00101001 00101100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01010010 01100101 01100111 01100111 01101001 01100101 00100000 01001010 01100001 01100011 01101011 01110011 01101111 01101110 00100000 01100110 01110010 01101111 01101101 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100110 01110010 01101001 01100101 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01100101 01111000 01100011 01101000 01100001 01101110 01100111 01100101 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01110011 01101100 01100001 01110000 00100000 01100010 01110010 01100001 01100011 01100101 01101100 01100101 01110100 00101110 00100000 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01101011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 01110000 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110100 01110010 01100001 01100100 01100101 00100000 01101100 01101001 01110011 01110100 00101110

    Posted by skankin_in_the_pit on 2008-02-12 21:20:29

    I got an edited version of this album in like sixth grade in a trade for some shitty Zebrahead sampler cassette. Seriously one of the highlights of my life. When I finally become GM of an NBA team that will be the first thing listed on my resume. I mean, who has ever pulled off a better trade than that.

    Posted by Nick_V on 2008-02-12 20:42:14

    I haven't seen a review of "Medium Rare" yet... I'll probably end up buying it anyway, but I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on it.

    I'm listening to "Jackknife" right now... It's hard for me to think of a better band to cheer one up after a lousy day.

    Posted by danperrone on 2008-02-12 20:31:02
    My Score:

    the end of "another drinkin' song" could be the finest bosstones moment of all time

    Posted by shindo on 2008-02-12 19:22:01

    I know two or three used stores that consistently have four or five of these in stock and no other Bosstones releases. It makes me think taht they must have produced a whole ton of these back in the day.

    -adam

    Posted by cuffer on 2008-02-12 19:12:12
    My Score:

    Haha I can't believe this is getting reviewed. Best live ska album ever though. Probably best live album ever.

    Posted by jacknife737 on 2008-02-12 19:00:49

    the best live album i own.

    © 1999-2009 Punknews.org • Terms of Use • Privacy • About • ISSN 1710-5366 • RSS RSS Icon