Smash Mouth currently have the honour of the worst ever score for an album bestowed on them here at Punktastic. Their ‘Astro Lounge’ CD is currently the ONLY record that we have ever given ‘0’ stars too. It is in short, awful. However, the band’s first release ‘Fush Yu Mang’ is far from awful. Infact, it’s actually quite good.
Kicking off with ‘Flo’, Steve Harwell and the boys start with a cool skanky riff that will get you dancing around in no time. ‘Beer Goggles’ begins with a cool “oooo-eeee-ooowww” which sounds like The Beach Boys, before rocking out. Another foot-tappingly cool song, and no sign of the MTV-infected shite that littered their follow-up.
But wait, here it comes, MTV fodder. Everyone probably knows ‘Walking On The Sun’, the song which actually broke the band in America. And wait, yep you guessed it, it was MTV’s heavy rotation of this very song that did it. In truth it’s not that bad, it does have a kind of reggae/ska feel to it, but it’s very mid-paced and is littered with keyboards. A song to reach the skip button for.
However, the good stuff returns almost immediately with the cool ‘Let’s Rock’ which is as fast and frenetic as they come. And it does indeed rock. Opening with a ska riff which will easily make you bounce around, it cuts into a really meaty chorus. ‘Heave-Ho’ keeps up the pace, and Steve Harwell does have quite a cool punk rock sneering vocal. The opening bass riff of ‘The Fonz’ is enough to shake the walls, and although it mellows out we won’t hold that against them. Plus, anyone who names a song after the King of Cool from Happy Days deserves a little respect.
‘Pet Names’ goes through some of the nicknames that Steve used to call his ex, and although it’s reasonably funny, the song isn’t that good and the lyrics are very generic. ‘Padrino’ has a cool opening with some nifty guitar work. And then the ska riff opens up and it’s damn fine. Play this in a club and watch the dancefloor move. Less Than Jake did a song called ‘Nervous In The Alley’ but I’d have to say that the Smash Mouth song is better. Again it will easily get your feet moving, and it has a hook so big it would easily catch a whale.
‘Disconnect The Dots’ has a cool brass opening which is different to the rest of the cd. Then it goes into a cool ska riff, and once again you find your body swaying uncontrolably from side to side. Opening with a great guitar effect ‘Push’ then slows down. But before you get chance to draw breath, the speed picks up again. Not the greatest song on the record, but it’s better than a kick in the bum. However, the band seemed to have saved the best for last. ‘Why Can’t We Be Friends’ is a song of kick-ass proportions, and will have you singing along like a madman. Punk cover songs don’t get much better than this, especially ska ones, and even if you’re not a Smash Mouth fan, I’d recommend you just hear this.
It’s a real pity that Smash Mouth discovered MTV, because this album ain’t half bad. Infact I’d even go as far as saying that it is actually quite good. Most of the stuff on here you’d really enjoy if you like Reel Big Fish and Less Than Jake, so you could do a lot worse than listen to this. Just avoid their other albums at all costs.
Paul Savage.