Customer Reviews

40 Oz to Freedom

5 star:		(274)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I've been wanting to review 40 Oz to Freedom for a long time now, as it is one of my favorite pieces of recorded music that I have found on this planet in my 28+ years of life and passionate appreciation of good music. In the likely event that my review gets excessively long here, I will state my major point early. This album is incredibily and DECEPTIVELY sophisticated. Sure, it is a rebellious, trend sparking album bubbling with attitude and venom and many many kids, teens and social outcasts love it. Sometimes kids like very very good things. One should really take notice!

Musicianship: Scrape away all you know about the drugs, death, drama and turmoil surrounding Sublime and focus exclusively on their music... the notes, the melodies, the transitions, the accents, the basslines, the song structures and most importantly the incredibily meticulous attention to detail cleverly hidden under a "punk rock guise" here. This group was remarkably talented. I urge anyone with a hint of music background to give this record a spin and put an intelligent ear to some of what lurks in this album. Sublime alone was a ferrocious three piece unit, but they are fearless and absolutely bullet proof when they are joined by their friends, recording engineers, Djs, guest horn players, extra percussions, guitars, toasters etc. etc. This was a "super-nova" recording. The odds of these specific people coming together in this complex arrangement and creating this collection of sound waves is remarkable. The only recent musical statement I can mildly compare it to in this regard is the under-appreciated Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys from 1989. An intelligent sensitive ear will sense the white hot energy in these grooves. This album flirts with danger like a stuntman. It has teeth too. It has sharp wit, street cred and a biting sense of humor. 40 oz. burns with frightening raw power. It hits nerves in the stomach the way Guns and Roses did with Sweet Child O'Mine. It revisits the rush kids get from shoplifting a candybar or lighting a fire or discovering your Dad's Playboy stash for the first time. It is that good.

Brad is the crazed captain of this ship. You wonder if he can promise a safe return, let alone the delusion of treasure, spices and women. He is the Alpha Male who can pound his chest, boast bi-lingual croons, scat thick reggae and play guitar like a prophet. I am serious here. The dangerous level of charisma Brad possessed is glowing on this recording. The cat could sing. He was unapologetic and sexist and indulgent at times and could make the most vulgar slum laden vocal sound angelic. There are moments of pure beauty, pure love, pure joy here. It's visibile in the fade in to Badfish. It's dominant in Scarlet Bagonias. It's even laced in there on "Dj's" with the caution of a caucasion Grandmaster Flash. On the flipside there is then wicked and rampant paranoia captured in such "deceptively" simple brush strokes... the initial feedback on their Decendents cover of Hope, the engine of New Thrash, the scat line to Scarlet Bagonias.

Eric is the gentle giant. His bass parts are patient, reserved and spaceous. He has no desire to compete with Brad or Bud for the spotlight (why would a sane person even dare?). He plays the bass as bass was intended and should be commended for his abilities here. His touch is subtle and supportive and contains an elephant back framework capable of holding the whole chaotic mess together. He shines quietly in the background with consistancy and yet his bass lines are still intriguing and demand investigation.

Bud is Brad's toxic twin, an intense personality that delivers the second knock-out punch. He is certainly second to Brad but he gets his jabs in real good. Listen to this guy's snare drum snap. He can play simple reggae beats spiked with the snarl of the best punk rock and when his absence is filled in with sampled James Brown funk the results are still captivating.

In the early to mid 90's NOBODY was making music like this. NOBODY was sampling Eazy E next to the Specials, Bad Religion, Jimmy Cliff, Kurtis Blow and the Minutemen (to name a few!). This sort of thing was the work of lunatic bravery which could have easily failed miserably. This is a painting that uses ALL the paint tubes and stays together by miracle.This album could easily have fallen HARD off it's track and burned up before anyone outside of LBC even took notice.

Sublime pulled this off and it is a truly SACRED recording.

Sublime takes every kind of music I have ever liked (ska, punk, reggae, funk) and combines it into this amazingly unique sound that no one could ever come close to duplicating. The musicianship on this album is unmatched, as Bradley James Nowell (guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and frontman)'s voice is just the best I have ever heard. You can hear the soul in it, the way it goes from loud screaming punk (We're Only Gonna Die, Hope, and New Thrash) to soft echoing ballads (songs not on this album: Boss DJ & Mary) just proves how great he is. Eric Wilson just drops some of the greatest bass lines I have ever heard. And Floyd "Bud" Gaugh I, often forgotten due to the greatness of Nowell and Wilson, does a damn good job on drums. I will go through this CD track by track.

Waiting For My Ruca- Great lead to the album. The first words on this album tells you Sublime's story- "Punk rock changed our lives". Nowell's voice is first heard in its truest form here.

Get Out!- Only on the original Skunk release, this song is Sublime's calling card. This is the best example of ever of Nowell's voice.

40 Oz. To Freedom- The title track, this one is more of a rock song, classic Sublime, that shows off Nowell's guitar and opens up some more of their music.

Smoke Two Joints- The ultimate pot smokers anthem, very catchy, the scratching in the middle is great, and at the end you hear Nowell's amazing vocals again.

We're Only Gonna Die- Great cover of Bad Religion's classic. Shows the punk side of Sublime

Don't Push- Here's the reggae Sublime is known for. Great example of classic bass.

5446 That's My Number/Ball and Chain- Great musicianship. You hear horns for the first time here, headlined by a great alto sax solo. Nowell's voice is perhaps at its best here- he loses his breath at one point, just showing you how honest Sublime was. He sings along with a solo here. You hear that great bass driving the tune again.

Badfish- A more reggae influenced tune. Great Sublime. Crazy good bass line.

Let's Go Get Stoned- Great sampling, good bass again.

New Thrash- More of a live, thrash, punk song...enjoyable.

Scarlet Begonias- A Grateful Dead Cover that is simply superb.

Live At E's- You hear Eric sing, which you've got love, as well as Ras MG and other Sublime contributors.

DJs- One of the best song on the album. At the end you hear Specials vocals, showing ska influences.

Chica Mi Tipo- All in Spanish 'cept the last few words, good guitar solos and sax.

Right Back- Amazing Sublime song, good groove towards the end. One of their best. Has a reggae vibe.

What Happened- Great song. The sax in the beginning is amazing and the warmth of the first 45 or so seconds of this song is just crazy.

New Song- Like New Thrash, doesn't sound so much like a studio recorded song. Very good still.

Ebin- Great bass line...considered by many of their better songs, but I don't really dig it too much.

Date Rape- Their radio hit, featuring great horns. Only song with real mainstream appeal on the album.

Rawhide- Only on Skunk release, cover of old showtune.

Hope- Great punk cover.

KRS-One- Tribute to the rapper, great acoustic song, good sampling.

Rivers of Babylon- Nowell doubles with Jack Mannis to cover a great song. Good xylophone solo, good guitar parts.

Thanks Dub- A rarity, the thank yous in a song. Features a list of everyone they owe something to, to some great bass lines. Good way to wrap up an amazing album.

This CD simply unfolds as one of the best ever. And it is chock full of music. With Get Out! and Rawhide, this CD covers 73+ minutes, literally filling the CD. For this reason, and this reason alone, they couldn't put Nowell's version of Trenchtown Rock on the CD (it was later found on SHS.)

If you have even a remote interest in ska, funk, reggae, or punk buy this you'll love it. If you can't get enough of the self-titled and want to go back in time with them, buy this. The only people I would not reccomend this to is teeny boppers, and people who dont know what real music is. But if you have the self-titled and only like Wrong Way, you'll find problems with this.

Anyone who truly loves music, Brad Nowell, or Loudog will buy and swear by this album till the day they die.

Peace.

40 Oz. To Freedom is the only album that I have 5 copies of, one for my house, one for my car, one for the office, and two imports with extra songs.

The most precious cd I own is a copy of 40 Oz. that was part of the initial Skunk Records release, before the record was re-released by MCA. That cd has a hidden track named "Get Out" and a bonus cover of the old tv show tune "Rawhide" after their famous song "Date Rape". I've had people offer me $50 just for that one cd, and I wouldn't take $500 for it.

It's hard to categorize Sublime's music without stepping on somebody's toes, but I would say that it's a mix of ska, punk, and reggae with a little bit of surfer lifestyle mixed in for good measure. It has great covers of some amazing songs, including Toots and The Maytals' "54-46 That's My Number". You can see that Sublime is a true ska band because of all the different references to classic ska and reggae cuts coupled with references to Jamaican culture as well. Most of my cd collection is classic ska and reggae from the '60s and '70s, but I honestly believe that this is one of the top ten ska albums of all time, inclusive of any time period or genre, be it two-tone music from the Specials, to the third wave bands like The Toasters, to ska/punk like Skankin Pickle, or classic roots ska artists like Desmond Dekker and Derrick Morgan.

There really is no way to do this cd justice, from it's cover art to it's closing credits (instead of being printed inside the cd case, they're the last track on the cd, spoken over some great music that can be best described as a mix of dub and ska).

This cd has been playing during some of the best and worst moments of my life, and it has practically become the soundtrack to my life, providing great music and lyrics that I can shout out my car window as I drive by frightened pedestrians, and that's why I think it's one of the best ska cds of all time. ;-)

This is a classic CD and should be in everyone's collection. It has almost every kind of music on it, like reggae, ska, hip-hop, punk, and rap. Bradly Nowell is such an amazing musician. His vocals are so strong and soulful, and he's great on guitar. Eric plays some of the best bass lines I've ever heard, and Bud is great on the drums. These are each of the tracks:

Waiting For My Ruca-Instead of starting the CD off with a bang, they start it with a great rhythmic and soulful tune. There isn't any guitaron this track, just a nice low bass and rim shots. A very good song.

40oz. To Freedom-A great rock song, really shows Brad's soulful vocals and great guitar playing.

Smoke Two Joints-A very catchy reggae tune about smoking pot.

We're Only Gonna Die-A cover of a Bad Religion song. Starts out slow, and speeds up every verse.

Don't Push-Great raggae song with amazing bass.

5446 / Ball And Chain-5446 is a cover song, although I'm not sure who it's by. The track starts with 5446, then goes into Ball And Chain, which is a cool poppy song with horns. Very catchy.

Badfish-A song about how drugs have a hold on Brad's life. Nice ska and soulful beat.

Let's Go Get Stoned-Cool funk beat and great bass. This song has nothing to do with drugs.

New Thrash-Live punk song. It's really chippy choppy because after each verse the song changes beat. It's also short.

Scarlet Begonias- Greatful Dead cover that's really catchy and poppy.

Live At E's- A cool hip-hop song featuring Ras MG. You also hear Eric sing. Fun song.

DJs-One of my favs. Really cool chorus.

Chica Me Tipo-The words are all in Spanish except for the end. The title means Chick On My Tip, and there's an english version on Second Hand Smoke.

Right Back-Nice reggae. One of the best songs on the CD.

New Song-Amazing song. Strong soulful vocals.

Ebin-Cool song with smart lyrics. It doesn't stand out though, cause it's not that catchy.

Date Rape-Great radio hit with horns. Amazing song with smart lyrics. Classic Sublime song.

Hope-Cover of a Descendents song, except it's a little faster then the original. Good punk.

KRS One-Acoustic song with lots of sampling.

Rivers Of Babylon-Cool acoustic song featuring another singer.

Thanks- Sublime thanking a long list of people. Really cool music playing in the background.

Amazing Cd that belongs in everyones collection. There is also the Skunk version that has 2 extra songs Get Out and Rawhide, but that's out of print. BUY THIS!!!!

R.I.P. Bradly Nowell and Lou Dog

I can't describe how perfect album this is and will be forever. It is an independent release, that should be considered as one of the best releases of any genre ever. That brings us to an interesting topic: What genre is Sublime? The answer is simple, many say ska, reggae, punk... I say feel good music. Bradley Knowell did not write or play music for those who wanted to cry in their beers...to the sublime guys that would be wrong. 40 oz. is the best Sublime release by far, don't be fooled by the self titled album, although great, it doesnt have the feeling of 40 oz. has through all of it's songs. My personal favorites inlcude Krs-One a tribute to the great freestyle rapper and also We're Only Gonna Die From Our Arrogance, a punk inspired cover of bad religions classic. I truly cant believe I've only warn out one cd so far. I treat my 40 oz cd like gold though...because you can't destroy something so beautiful. No summer party or any party should go by without this cd being played in its rotation. Just pick the cd up soon...it'll be worth it for a long long time. Bradley RIP

Growing up in Southern California, Sublime was and still is a musical staple in this region, capturing the laidback vibe of the lifestyle and energy from L.A. to Long Beach, better known as the LBC, to Orange County. 40 Oz. to Freedom is a cornucopia of musical styles, ranging from reggae (D.J.'s, Don't Push) to ska (Date Rape, 5446/Ball & Chain), from punk (We're Only Gonna Die For Our Arrogance, Hope) to dub (Let's Go Get Stoned, Badfish, 40 Oz., Waiting For My Ruca), to hip-hop (Live At E's) or a mixture of all those elements. To add an even sweeter kick, 40 Oz. has a Latin feel to the album, with Chica Me Tipo being a prime example of this. Sublime's debut album is so superb from top to bottom that each song is a highlight. Here's a rundown of the songs:

1. Waiting For My Ruca. Catchy percussion beat with Brad featuring a lower-key voice. It doesn't start the album with a bang, but it's a great taste of what is ahead. 4.5/5
2. Get Out! As noted, it's only off the skunk release. Brad's voice is what carries this song gracefully. 5/5
3. 40 Oz. To Freedom. Brad shows tremendous soulful form in this particular track. Rather depressing subject material about drinking alcohol as a way to solve problems, but the awesome reggae-ska combination riffs will uplift you. 5/5
4. Smoke Two Joints. A Bob Marley cover. Fantastic reggae-punk rendition of the unofficial toker's anthem. 5/5
5. We're Only Gonna Die For Our Own Arrogance. A Bad Religion cover. This is Sublime at its most hardcore punk-ish. Rather generic start but the tempo becomes much harder, faster, and more raucous with Brad keeping up the pace nicely. 5/5
6. Don't Push. As Brad would say, "When you're down with Sublime you get funky fresh hits" and this track is nothing short of a funky fresh hit. Brad has a bouncy rap touch to add with his soulful voice. Sweet reggae vibe to boot. 5/5
7. 5446 That's My Number/Ball & Chain. First part of the song, 5446 is a reggae Toots & The Maytals cover while the latter is an original. 5446 stays true to the reggae with a hint of ska, whereas Ball & Chain is an outright ska rocker with horns and Brad's voice at his most passionate. 5/5
8. Badfish. Besides Date Rape, this is one of the tracks that receives massive radio play, at least here locally in L.A. Slower, laidback reggae. 5/5
9. Let's Go Get Stoned. The earlier part of the song is riddled with sampling with the bass setting the tone. Funky instrumental finish. 4/5

10. New Thrash. Not exactly thrash but it almost crosses the line. It's more of in the hardcore punk department. It's a live track so it's a bit choppy. 4/5
11. Scarlet Begonias. A Grateful Dead cover with a racy reggae kick and Brad does a superb rap solo near the end. 5/5
12. Live At E's. More rap/hip-hop influenced with Ras MG backing up Brad and there's a funny stint where Eric gets a minor chorus. A fun listen. 5/5
13. D.J.'s. Predominantly reggae with a ska twist at the end. Without a doubt, one of Sublime's best. Just a feel-good track. 5/5
14. Chica Me Tipo. Reggae-ska with a Latin tone, mostly due to Brad singing in Spanish. As most Sublime fans know, there's an English version of this song on Second-Hand Smoke. I prefer the original. 5/5
15. Right Back. Laidback reggae stylee throughout with a hardcore punk outro. 5/5
16. What Happened. Simply Skanktastic. Great guitars with horns to complement. The beat comes from a 50's song called Tequila by The Champs. It's a very difficult choice, but this track is the best of the best. 5/5
17. New Song. A bit choppy, but it's superb reggae with a 70's kind of feel to it. 5/5
18. Ebin. Probably the most underrated song because of the subject material about Brad's friend converting into a Nazi. Excellent ska nonetheless. 5/5
19. Date Rape. Classic Sublime ska with a quirky but true moral attached. 5/5
20. Rawhide. Solid cover of an old television sitcom theme, though I prefer the rare Hong Kong Phooey cover over this any day. 4/5
21. Hope. A more pulse-pounding hardcore rendition of the classic Descendents song. 5/5
22. KRS-One. Feel-good catchy vibe with sweet sampling. 5/5
23. Rivers of Babylon. It's a live rendition of what I hear is actually an Irish folk song. Correct me if I'm wrong. Sublime is very well known for being an awesome acoustic band and this song bolsters that claim. 5/5
24. Thanks Dub. Brad giving props to lots of people with some radical music in the background. 5/5

Top to bottom, there isn't a glaring weakness in 40 Oz. To Freedom. I also recommend Robbin' the Hood, which is more aimed at for hardcore fans of Sublime and the band's self-titled album. And for good measure, get Second-Hand Smoke and the acoustic album, Brad Nowell and friends. R.I.P. Brad and Lou Dog

This CD is more than an hour of the greatest music I have in my entire collection. It is not the same Sublime that released the self entitled album "Sublime, it's a more instrument-based band with better song writings and less emphasis put on the scum of life. "Example: "Wrong Way" from "Sublime" One of my favorite tracks on this CD was taken from the Grateful Dead entitled "Scarlet Begonias." It's a spruced up, wonderful edition of the Dead's hit. Don't get me wrong though, they don't take everything from other bands. Bradley Nowell's lyrics are very touching and his lead guitar and vocalists are very nice. The only thing I don't like about Sublime is that Brad Nowell died early, imagine how many awesome albums they could have made. Well no use wishing for something that's not gonna happen. But--I didn't even get to see them live. Well, I got a few words to sum up this whole CD. "Awesome" "Click the Add To Shopping Cart Button" NOW!

"Everyone likes Sublime," I once heard someone say. Pick up this album, listen to it all the way through, and you'll understand exactly why that is. Sublime seamlessly weave rock, reggae, ska, punk, and even influences of hip-hop and jazz into their distinctly recognizable sound, while at the same time inserting addictively catchy melodies every step of the way.

Radio-listeners may be familiar with the hits this album produced, most notably "Badfish" and "Date Rape". Though if you like those songs, you owe it to yourself to check out what else lies inside here. Modern rock-reggae classics such as "Don't Push" and "DJs" are found side-by-side with powerful punk anthems such as their Descendents cover "Hope", "New Thrash", and Bad Religion's "We're Only Gonna Die For Our Own Arrogance". Though these covers are done so well, and flow so perfectly with their original material, that it's often hard to imagine anyone but this trio from Long Beach playing them.

Simply put, "40 Oz To Freedom" is one of those albums. Every song is a total victory. This is not only Sublime's best work, but clearly one of the greatest albums of the 90's, and a definite modern classic.

40 Oz'es to freedom summarizes a generation of the effects of the slacker generation and post "Future Shock" generation of youth distorted by the blinding distraction of a world grafitti'ed with too much information and choices.

The 80s and 90s represent the boiling point of information shock. How excess commercialism has forced society into a group attention deficit disorder eclecticized misfits of kids mocked by the baby boomers generation as being weak, unoriginal, and undisciplined.

In this album, Sublime takes these distractions and turns it into musical form that takes ubiquitous, eclectic sounds and glues them together into something total new.

With the distraction of information such as fast food commercials, interrupting news reports, the constant shift of music genres, Sublime, a band from Long Beach, just a few miles from Hollywood, where American culture is sculpted in movies, commericals, and televisions, have created a sound embedded with "sublime" music, subliminal undertones, and infectious ideas.

The sound is eclectic. One moment, you'll hear hyper ska in songs like "Date Rape" and then, a moment later, you'll hear slow punk/psychedelic rock sounds in tunes like "40 Oz to Freedom", and then you'll here hard core madness such as "We only died for....."

The music is beautiful, intense, and one hypnotic expression that can easily be listened from start to finish even though there are about 19 songs on this album!

40 Oz to Freedom seems to be a message that with all the stresses from life, we're just a bottle of alcohol from running away from it. It's a sad testimony that holds a lot of truth. The singer died of an overdose from drugs after "running away from everything" just a bit too far. He never did come back. But, his music lives on for at least my eternity and as long as fans don't forgot.

If you like Fishbone, Bob Marley, Social Distortion, The Mighty Bosstones, The Uptones, The English Beat, The Clash, Rancid, etc., you'll end up loving Sublime and probably already do.

This album is as good as any.

Favorite tracks are: 40 Oz to Freedom, We only died....

Brad and crews first release. Brad was a gifted song writter and had a flare for making timeless music by blending different styles into his own, while not using any gimmics that would date his music to a particular era. After this album many thought they given everything they had and would not be able to follow it up. Not only was that not the case with the self titled album proving Sublime was going to just get better and better, but the other members after Brad's death have come into their own first forming the Long Beach Dub Allstars then spliting up to form Eyes Adrift, & Long Beach Shortbus. Other great albums by Eric and Bud include Diet Christ, Juice Bros. (see Long Beach Blvd. comp.), & Del Noah and the Mt. Araratfinks. Also find Eric and Bud guesting on Corn Doggy Dog's - Good Clean Filth.