Product Description

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Track Listing

1. Waiting for My Ruca
2. 40 Oz. to Freedom
3. Smoke Two Joints
4. We're Only Gonna Die for Our Own Arrogance
5. Don't Push
6. 5446 That's My Number/Ball and Chain
7. Badfish
8. Let's Go Get Stoned
9. New Thrash
10. Scarlet Begonias
11. Live At E's
12. D.J.s
13. Chica Me Tipo
14. Right Back
15. What Happened
16. New Song
17. Ebin
18. Date Rape
19. Hope
20. KRS-One
21. Rivers of Babylon
22. Thanx

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3828 in Music
• Brand: SUBLIME
• Released on: 1996-07-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.com
Ska music has been deeply ingrained in the punk rock culture since the Clash adopted their rude boy stance near the end of the British punk invasion and the 2-Tone label put ska on the map. Suddenly, punks stopped kicking the crap out of each other long enough to dance. The debut release by Orange County, California's Sublime is a positively infectious record that marries varied styles of dub, reggae, rap, sampling, scratching, and badass dancehall ska with old-school punk overtones. Musicianship on this record is exceptionally tight, featuring Brad Nowell's innovative guitar work and bright, soulful voice. Packed with 40 oz. of rock (21 tracks) including the ultimate pot-smoking anthem "Smoke Two Joints" and the novelty hit "Date Rape." --Gail Worley

Customer Reviews

Deceptively sophisticated, sacred recording...
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.

Quite simply, the best album I have ever heard.
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.

One of the top ten ska cds of all time!
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. ;-)