303) Mighty Mighty Bosstones - A Jacknife to a Swan

Remember the old days when you flicked through the music press every week, between friends and people at college I probably saw NME, Melody Maker and Sounds most weeks and you would see interviews, adverts and reviews of bands again and again and you would never listen to a note of their music.  The Fields of Nephilim, Rose of Avalanche, Butthole Surfers, Kingmaker and Marion are five just off the top of my head that I never heard and still haven’t.

I may love all five of these bands if I ever listened to them, but we cannot listen to everything and sometimes we just want to listen to London Calling again because we know we love it.

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones fall exactly into this category for me, I was probably aware of them for their near thirty year existence but not a note has ran through my head and I was unaware they split up only in 2022 and a major factor was lead singer Dicky Bennett’s anti vaccine views, a sad end to a long successful career.

 A Jackknife to a Swan was their seventh release through an eleven-album career. They have been described as a successful mix of ska and punk and they certainly launch themselves into the record with the opening three tracks, the title track’ chorus you can’t help tapping along to and Mr Moran, with a spoken word intro, and then the story of Sal Gravano who testified against his mafia bosses, good song.  You Gotta Go! reminds me of Green Day with horns and Everybody’s Better is where we relax but it doesn’t really grab me like the opening three tracks.

Sugar Free Bennett is more aggressive and punk like over a solid beat and

Chasing the Sun Away has some nice wee musical interludes and I like the

guitar assault into and the trumpet on The Old School off the Bright.

The problem for me is I find a lot of the songs terribly similar, but it is an

enjoyable listen and they clearly knew their stuff and the album ends on 7

Ways to Sunday a mainly acoustic number which is a nice contrast, I could have

done with a few more like this.

6.25/10

GIVE IT A STREAM: Mr Moran