[CannonBall]

Recording quality is definitely better than CCF and I would say it’s on par with Monkeys. Overall the album is what I expected, but overall they sound more like FOE than RBF. The horn lines and harmonies are much more similar to FOE as well as the vocal harmonies. Not having Scott in the band means RBF are missing a big part of their original sound that made them innovators of third wave ska.

Insert the conversation we’ve been having for over a decade, they need a producer to help them be more than just a group of people who are really into and inspired by RBF.

I think Matt and Aaron’s vocals sound good together.

Overall I don’t really care about most of the songs and don’t find them interesting and have no interest in really listening to most of the songs, but I rarely listen to the classic RBF we all love. I went all in on ska as a kid in the ‘90s, but it’s 2018 now and I like more interesting music.

With that said, the last four songs of the album are standouts for me. G. D. Beautiful Day is a great song and is as close as they’ve come to writing a song that sounds like Scott was involved. It’s not a ska song, it’s them doing something fun and different and interesting. I think this is one of the songs where Matt really shines with his vocals. They aren’t trying to be ska or anything here and it seems like it allowed this group of new band members and Aaron the opportunity to write a song that represents the creativity that comes from this lineup.

I Should Know By Now has those little flourishes and embellishments between different parts of the song that RBF used to be known for, not at the same level, but it’s there. Actually, listening to this song again right now and I don’t like it as much as I thought I did. It’s cool, but I’m getting bored. NEXT!

I’d Rather Get It Wrong. Again, not just a straight up ska song, there’s just more to it and actually this is the song that I think really highlights Matt’s vocal abilities. Very tight harmonies and overall rich tone.

Overall it’s a good first album for a new band like RBF. Hopefully they can keep this lineup solid for awhile so they can take it to the next level for the album they release in 2025.

[CannonBall]

So many years later and that’s the only conversation going on here. I don’t think I’ve posted here in over five years, but I’m pretty sure this is where we all left off. At this point I don’t think RBF will ever be the band we want them to be. I don’t think RBF was ever the band Aaron wanted it to be. But damn, they haven’t even tried to release an album in six years! They still tour like crazy so I don’t know what the deal is, just no point wasting money on an album when there’s no return?

For those of you looking to find something new with horns, check out this song by Snarky Puppy, it’s badass.

[CannonBall]

Ha, I bought this same VHS from “Brownlabel” back in the day and got a few other concerts as well as all the music videos. Damn kids have it easy with YouTube and torrents these days!

[CannonBall]

Back in the 90s I used to pirate music the old fashioned way, I would tape-record songs off the radio that I liked. Sell Out was mixed in with a bunch of other songs I liked, but I didn’t know it was RBF or really do anything other than listen to those songs. Then, during the summer of ska in ’97, I got to see RBF perform live on the MTV sports and music festival or something (I wasn’t there, just watched them on TV) and I also recorded that to VHS tape, still have it somewhere along with a bunch of other bootleg live shows I bought from brownlabel.com back in the day.

At this point I still wasn’t obsessed with them. The obsession started when they came to Santa Cruz and I got to see them play live with The Aquabats (when travis barker was still in the band) and from that point forward I became obsessed, started my own band blatantly ripping off their style.

Wow, that’s like 16 years. Crazy how some things stick with you so long. At this point I still like TTRO, WDTRSH and CU the most, everything after that is just a different direction that never really appealed to me.

[CannonBall]

Yeah, it was some weird intro that had a bass line just kind of doing stuff that built up to the awesome rock and roll part. I never heard it anywhere other than the “Liquid Media Player” that was on the MOJO RBF page back then.

[CannonBall]

Ok, for those of you that heard everything ever. Help me out here. During the promotion to WDTRSH MOJO had a RBF page with some promo tracks from the album (The Setup and another song). This version of The Setup had an alternate intro instead of the longer tag at the beginning. Has anyone else heard this? Was it the radio promo? I have never heard it since and I seem to remember it being kind of cool.

[CannonBall]

How did this even leak? 

[CannonBall]

Eagle1295: Ya\’ll know \”The Promise\” is a cover, right?  Not that it makes it non-awesome, but the main melody and lyrics arent RBF originals.

Dammit, really? The vocal melody and harmonies were what I really liked. Still a good song, but I really wanted it to be one they wrote, just like how Cannibal and Party Down are really well written and dynamic songs. 

[CannonBall]

A couple other points after listening a little more. 

I think the standout track for me is “The Promise”. This is a really good song, all of the parts are well written and each add to the song in their own way. This is also the only song where I really miss Scott, I can hear his singing in my head and it would have been amazing on this song. If their new sound went in this direction, I would be happy with that. 

Also, this is the first new album without Scott and it doesn’t really sound that different than anything else they’ve been doing. Really shows how much he contributed on the past few releases. 

[CannonBall]

I don’t really post here anymore, all I did for the past few years was talk shit so I didn’t really want to keep doing that here. But, I did want to come back and give credit where credit is due. 

I just found this leak, 5 days late shows you how much I care anymore. I gave up, that’s why I left, but this new album is good and it’s made me realize that this is the RBF that Aaron has wanted since the beginning… maybe. 

TTRO, White Trash, and Cheer Up might have been the perfect storm. There is magic behind those albums, even though the band might not have gotten along that well during those albums, the musical chemistry and production value made those albums something special, not just by RBF standards, but by all ska standards. 

Compare most ska albums to those three and nobody ever comes close. As those albums have aged I can honestly say they are pretty flawless productions in all aspects. I don’t think it’s fair to compare anything RBF currently does with that period. 

If you change the name and consider them as a brand new band you’ve never heard before, the music is pretty good. In no way CCF attempt to sound anything like those three albums, CCF is something that would be better compared to The Scholars, Jeffries Fan Club, Save Ferris or Spring Heeled Jack. I think RBF just want’s that more traditional ska sound and that’s a big difference compared to the Mojo records. Those records were more progressive in terms of sound, more like the dynamic Five Iron Frenzy stuff. 

So if you look at this album as a brand new bands first album, it’s a good start. I think now that RBF is finally where Aaron wants it to be, they will now start a new evolution cycle and eventually I think they will put out some amazing albums. Right now they are at the garage band phase, it just so happens that this garage band goes on world tours and has millions of fans. 

I don’t hate this album, I think it’s much better than anything recent, I’ve just gotten older and my tastes have changed. I like more progressive music like the RxBandits and Muse, I also listen to a lot of film music, I have a huge love of horns and nothing beats the horns in film music like Inception or The Dark Knight Rises score. I’m a production value snob and that’s just not what Aaron cares about now, he’s making music for himself and not me, I can’t judge him for that.  

[CannonBall]

Oh man, he didn’t even stay for the whole show? I guess he has heard, Beer, Sell Out, and Take on Me, a few times right?

[CannonBall]

 

[CannonBall]

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[CannonBall]

Exactly, the first versions had so much more dynamic texture. There were cool production values that made the songs sound good. These “Best of Us” albums have the same production value as a live album without the energy of a live show. 

Even if they just stop recording to a click track that would make me happy, just record the rhythm section live, it always sounds better that way. 

[CannonBall]

I’m glad they’re up there enjoying themselves. It looks like Aaron has his backing band and everything has his stamp of approval and everyone understands that’s the deal and everyone is happy and I’m happy for them.

But I’m bored with it. I’ve come to terms with the fact that this is their sound now, but for some reason I have like this little 1% chance of hope that they will release at least one song I really like. Party Down is a song I can get behind because it does have all those classic RBF flourishes and transitions between the different parts of the song. There were so many of these things in their earlier albums, but as time went on the songs just went straight from one part of the song to the other. It’s like when you first start fooling around with a girl and you’re excited to do everything all the time, then after awhile it’s just down to business because that other stuff is too much work and this other way is just as fun and much easier.

And then there’s my favorite song that they’ve released since Average Man and that’s Cannibal. That’s a great song and it wasn’t just an Aaron song.

At the end of the day RBF to me were the first three major label albums. Everything after that is FOE.

RxBandits are where it’s at now, but they are pretty much dead so… It’s a lot easier to find bands with cool horn sections now than it was in the ’90s, so I made this playlist of songs with badass horns

[Author]

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