Album Revisit: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Question the Answers" (Mercury Records)

When you are 15 you don't really think about your mid-twenties. You yearn for 17: it's not far off and you can drive (freedom!). Perhaps at 15 you occasionally long for 21 when you're trying to buy St. Ide's Special Brew at the bodega. But even the most hypercritical youngster isn't concerned with the lasting impact of the records they love. And maybe that is why most people romanticize music from their youth: without being over concerned with authenticity and longevity, we can all just rock out, right?

Needless to say when I was 15 and sitting on a towel with my parents, brother and best friend in Ocean City, NJ connecting my yellow Sony Sports Walkman to tiny speakers to listen to my new musical discovery, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, I was blissful. I don't recall how I heard them or where I bought the album but I remember that beach towel, possibly because I only had two cds with me. Along with the Bosstones, I brought the already classic Operation Ivy discography CD, which got far more airplay on the blanket due to my best friend's aversion to Dicky Barrett's meaty howl.

This was a major rift in our best friendship! How could anyone not love Question the Answers? It kicked off with a mysterious hum, slowly built up some feedback and drums, only to break out into a break down, which segued into an horn driven ska shuffle. Also: the singer sounded like he gargled with shrapnel. They hated racism! I hated racism! They were catchy and aggressive while remaining melodious! They wore suits and had a guy that got down on stage for no reason at all. Quite a friendship was forged on that blanket (while others were a bit strained).

Obviously, the Bosstones would become a totally different kind of band and not the one I originally loved. But I stuck with them, at least at first. I spent many a night driving off my college campus to go catch the Bosstones, who ironically started as a perennially college band in the early 90's (read: fratty).

When all is said and done, Question the Answers is the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' finest album. It has minimal filler and focuses on what the band did the best: create ape shit catchy songs that make you move around. This album is the hardest to pin down the songs in terms of the "ska one" or the "rock one" and that is probably what makes it their most consistent. They cover so much ground per song that it's hard to keep up, which is probably what appealed to me at 15.

After a decade I still find Dicky to be a compelling lyricist. Dicky's best songs usually contain a coherent narrative that makes the personal a bit (socially) political. The songs are clear in their message but never outright preachy. The Bosstones gently urge, they do not shove. Dicky tackles nostalgia ("Jump Through the Hoops" and "Toxic Toast"), all kinds of liberal civil rights feel goodery (the you-know-they-had-to-obligatory-anti-racism-song, "Kinder Words" and the how-the-hell-do-they-pull-off-a-wah-wah-chorus-but-they-do-charm of "Hell of a Hat") while still leaving room for some dating.

On that note: 15 year old Tom (the "h" had not yet appeared) was extremely enamored with the punk rock MOR rhyme fest that is "Pictures to Prove It." Proof: I met Dicky once before a show that they were playing at the University of Pennsylvania, the first thing I did was ask him to play it, to which he declined. He did apologize though. That being said, during my revisit, I couldn't help but notice that "Pictures To Prove it" may be the most meaningless love song of all time. It really sounds like one wildly unrealistic situation for anyone to be in. For the unaware: the narrator, desperate to prove to an ex that things are better than she says, is making her aware of a "whole stack of proof." That's it.

In the 3:16 it takes for the Bosstones to play through the tune, we don't learn one useful detail of the narrator's relationship except that he doesn't seem to have any idea where his former lover is, which is admittedly troublesome. Oh but you learn that he takes the pictures in question to the bar and the older pictures are a bit chewed up (both of which are less like details and more like cliches). He does seem to erroneously believe that he is involved in a trial though because he presents the pictures as "Exhibit A" after an aggressive middle section. Dicky- you phoned this one in but I forgive you.

With that said, when Barrett quips, "I always thought I was smart" after failing to find the problem in a relationship gone bad ("Stand Off"), you can't help but be empathetic: how many times have you been stuck in a romantic entanglement where you know the right decision (usually not the easy one) and yet you continue to plug away, for naught? Dicky excels at culling details from everyday human drama: the details of "Toxic Toast" probably don't make much sense to anyone but the people living in the "punk rock estate" that is the subject of the song. The details don't really matter since the frantic chorus of "It still haunts me/Like it wants me" speaks to anyone who has had the shared experience of living in a debaucherous domicile.

Finally, album closer, and one of the Bosstones' greatest songs to date, "Jump Through the Hoops" tells the story of a bitter bartender's day to day (possibly a continuation of Devils Night Out standout, "The Bartender's Song"). The unnamed narrator serves "whiskey, stale wit and beer," despises his life and looks back on his life, only to realize it is too late. It is actually pretty heavy lyrical matter for any band, but the Bosstones pull it off with a panache that is rare when both punk and ska are simultaneously involved. The song closes with the narrator resigned to his life: "I'm more than set in my ways/No stopping now, it's a shame," only to conclude "I'm alright if I don't know and can't see/I'll live in hell 'til the day that they plant me" while the band cheerfully chants "So long, it's over, the end."

Unless you are 27 and feeling nostalgic for beach towels and the Surf Mall.

1995 rating: 9/10 pork pie hats

2008 rating: 9/10 plaid Chuck Taylors.