Fishbone is a band which had -- and still has -- 99% of the ingredients necessary to make it huge, but somehow managed to nail perfectly the conditions required to meet the 1% chance that no one would hear their music -- chaos within the band, willful flouting of the "rules" of making hit songs, pigeonholeing (some would say racism?) within the music industry, etc etc etc.

If your music taste includes ANY of the following: Sly and the Family Stone, Funkadelic, the Specials, Ozomatli, etc, run - don't walk - to your local record store and pick up this new "Best of" Fishbone. What Fishbone has in common with those bands is an energy and vitality that is missing from too much "mainstream" music, and an ability to combine a good-time party sound with some serious messages. And Angelo Moore, who plays sax and sings (roughly 75% of their songs; everyone in the band sings at one point or another), is the most spectacular currently-active frontman in rock-and-roll, somehow managing to be a combination of Johnny Rotten, Mick Jagger, and Marvin Gaye. Really, I mean it. He sings with the voice of an angel while leaping into the mosh pit!

Fishbone is NOT for everyone, but don't believe it if you've heard that they are outside the mainstream. They play a variety of styles -- based in funk, with a heavy dose of ska, factoring in some heavy guitars and a LOT of horns -- usually merging those styles together into a unique stew (rather than keeping the styles separate on each song). A fair number of these tunes really SHOULD have been blockbuster #1 hits (Lemon Meringue, Unyielding Conditioning, Everyday Sunshine, more) ... you've really missed out an a lot of spectacular music if you've yet to delve into Fishbone!

If you already (really) know Fishbone, you don't need this review to tell you how great they are. But if you're curious, and like to be a little bit adventurous with your music, you absolutely will not regret spicing up your life with some of this Fishbone magic.

Try it ... you WILL catch on!