This came out a few months back but in keeping with the colored 45s theme for the week and because I’m going to see them in Asbury Park this Sunday, I’ve decided there’s no better time than now for a Bosstones review. This is an Interpunk exclusive 7” and they still have some left on black if you don’t want to shop around on eBay for the white.
Now some of you may know this and others may not, but I’m not exactly a “sports” guy. I don’t really see a point. I’m not shitting on other people for liking their favorite teams. I just don’t get it. So while some people probably got that the “Impossible Dream” referred to the 1967 Red Sox Season, I had to look it up on Wikipedia. I mean I knew baseball had something to do with this release being that the free sticker that came with it was of a Red Sox player and because the record itself is designed to look like a baseball. But, like I said I’m not a sports guy.
Let’s forget the whole sports thing for a moment. The painting of Ben and Dicky on the cover is fucking great. If it were up to me Ben would be dancing on other bands’ album covers too. You just can’t stop that guy. He’s a damn dancin’ machine. Both songs are about overcoming adverse situations and staying optimistic and that’s something that anyone can understand, especially punk rockers and kids that don’t otherwise fit in. Now I gotta say I wanted to not like the Bosstones’ cover of The Impossible Dream. It’s kinda a corny song and pretty annoying when you get right down to it. However they do a pretty good job at mighy mighty-ing it up, so my only real gripe in the end is that it’s the A side. Next To Nothing is a much better song and doesn’t deserve languishing on the B Side. B Sides are usually pretty perfect for cover songs anyway. It doesn’t matter though, because I can always play side B first when I listen to this.
So I’ll end with this. The Bosstones are a bunch of really great guys. Go to any of their shows and they’re easy to find and even easier to approach and talk too. They have always been behind putting out not only great music but great vinyl. When their major label wouldn’t put money into releasing their stuff on vinyl in the 90s, the band started Big Rig Records and did it themselves. And they didn’t half step either. You could get “Don’t Know How To Party” on plaid, you could get “Question the Answers” on double colored clear 10”s. And there are more than a handful of great colored 45s that they’ve released as well. So despite their flirtations with super-stardom they’ve always held it down when it counts. Some of my greatest memories are of seeing them when I was a wee teenager (two particular nights in a row at The Academy spring to mind). And when I saw them last year for the first time in over 10 years they still had it. So the bottom line is they aren’t twice “mighty” for nothin’.
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