Fishbone – ‘Truth and Soul’ (2005)

Originally published in Wonka Vision Magazine (Issue #29, 2005)

Wonka Vision featured a section called “Dust Bin Reviews” where writers could pick older albums to write about. In this issue, I chose to write about Fishbone’s 1988 release, Truth and Soul.

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In 1988, when this album was released, I was mired in the world of glam rock. Flipping through an issue of the hard rock magazine RIP, I saw a photo of Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian wearing a Fishbone t-shirt. I figured he must be endorsing the band so I went out and picked up the Truth and Soul cassette, not realizing that some 17 years later I would still rank it among my favorite 10 albums of all time.

The beauty of Fishbone is they mix a variety of styles, from ska to punk, to metal and funk, and do it so seamlessly that their appeal is wide stretching. Additionally, the band is, to this day, very socially conscious and you stand a good chance of receiving an education during the course of listening to just about any Fishbone song.

On Truth and Soul, the band addressed racial issues on tracks like “One Day,” “Subliminal Fascism,” and “Ghetto Soundwave,” while also making room for party anthem such as “Bonin’ in the Boneyard.” Truth and Soul is the real deal; trace the careers of No Doubt, 311, Sublime, and Living Colour backwards and all roads lead to Fishbone.

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