truth and soul

Fishbone blazed a trail with their unique mix of punk, ska, reggae, soul, funk, metal, and blues.  Their second album sees the band expanding on the ska sound of their eponymous EP and their full length debut 'In Your Face'.  

'Truth and Soul' was recorded at Sunset Sound Factory in Hollywood, California with Chris Dowd on vocals, keyboards, and trombone; John Norwood Fisher on vocals and bass guitar; Philip "Fish" Fisher on drums and percussion; Kendall Jones on vocals, electric guitar, and acoustic guitars; Walter A. Kibby II on vocals and trumpet; and Angelo Moore on vocals and saxophone;   with David Kahne on production and engineering; and John Bavin and Larry Ferguson on engineering.

'Truth and Soul' only charted at number one hundred and fifty-three in the US; but their amalgam of styles went on to influence bands that saw much greater success.   Angelo Moore explains:   “From my perspective as a black man living in a white-dominated America, racism in the American music business has definitely kept bands like Fishbone from having a fair chance in being evenly exposed to the masses because of cultural stereotypes placed upon them by white power figures."

Norwood Fisher considers: 

"We are a band of hardheads and we’re still hardheaded today. The bottom line is that over the years Fishbone was fucking up, and right at the time when things could have paid off greatly, the band imploded...We were teenagers being influenced by what we were hearing, which was reggae being played on black radio in Los Angeles for the first time.  I remember the day we were jamming on reggae rhythms—punk rock was new at that time too—and we just started speeding stuff up. Honestly, in 1979 I didn’t know what ska was, and I thought we’d invented something new...We were six black young men from Los Angeles, and the Two Tone idea was something to stand for, so we totally embraced it.  And the energy of punk rock—you know we came from gang-related neighborhoods, so for me the violence of punk made sense. There was a big cross-cultural surge, everybody was listening to everything—mod and ska and new wave—everybody could enjoy it, and for a moment it didn’t matter what color you were.”

http://fishbone.net/

Everyday Sunshine:  The Story of Fishbone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChXk4R0mGNw

http://www.fandor.com/films/everyday_sunshine

"Freddie's Dead"  

"Ma and Pa"  

"Question of Life" 

Fishbone -A Question Of Life by boutevinlfs

"Pouring Rain"  

"Bonin' in the Boneyard"  

"Slow Bus Movin' (Howard Beach Party)"

"Change"  

'Truth and Soul'

full album:

1. "Freddie's Dead"   Curtis Mayfield 4:31
2. "Ma and Pa"   Angelo Moore, Kendall Jones 3:19
3. "Question of Life"   Moore, Jones, John Norwood Fisher 3:02
4. "Pouring Rain"   Chris Dowd 5:13
5. "Deep Inside"   Moore, Fisher 1:22
6. "Mighty Long Way"   Fisher 3:26
7. "I Like to Hide Behind My Glasses" (only included on European release) Dowd, Moore 4:43
8. "Bonin' in the Boneyard"   Moore, Fisher, David Kahne 4:44
9. "One Day"   Walter Kibby, Jones, Kahne 4:34
10. "Subliminal Fascism"   Moore 1:28
11. "Slow Bus Movin' (Howard Beach Party)"   Jones, Moore, Kibby, Philip 'Fish' Fisher 2:38
12. "In the Name of Swing" (only included on European release) Moore, Fisher, Kahne 2:46
13. "Ghetto Soundwave"   Jones 4:24
14. "Change"   Jones, Dowd 2:58