the don project | listening | record 897
Artist Title
Agent 99 The Biggest Boy
Genre Format
Ska 7" vinyl
Label Number Year
Self-Released unknown 1995
Rating
2/5: not super good
Price
I paid $1.99 for this.
Version Notes
no special notes
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Review
"Biggest Boy" is an awful song. I go to a dive bar karaoke event every once in a while and the owner of the bar always gets up to sing. He sings songs with really blatant awful rhyming and does so in a bassy voice that is closer to talking than singing. At the dive bar on a Friday after a couple hours, it's rather endearing. When a lady singer talk-sings lines that rhyme brain with insane over a fast ska rhythm with punk breakdowns it is bordering on torture. Throw a dub effect on those vocals and it becomes a nightmare.

Luckily the record improves as you continue through the tracks. "Murder for Rent" is actually pretty good with some nice harmony in the vocals. But then the last track brings the terrible memories back with a weird reggae/shuffle/disco + hardcore punk/dub thing that just makes you sad. And you're made more sad by the fact that the bassist and drummer absolutely SLAY their instruments on this recording. Fantastic intricate bass lines form the cornerstone of a seriously tight rhythm section. Ska guitar is just an accent, so that's not the drawback. The vocals are just a complete letdown, made worse by the use of dub echo.

This recording is probably the only way a ska song could ever make you sad.

A1. The Biggest Boy
A2. River Cobain
B1. Murder For Rent
B2. Happy?

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Last updated: 02/26/2014
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