The Magic of Youth
Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Released December 6, 2011
Big Rig Records

 Review by Tom “Bari Sax” Enget

After 25 years together, the legendary Bosstones are at it again.  Their ninth studio album, The Magic of Youth, is another solid effort from the Boston Ska-Core pioneers who have never really released a bad album.  It drops just short of two years to the day that they released Pin Points and Gin Joints, their well-regarded eighth album that was their first since 2002’s A Jackknife to a Swan.  After all those years, Pin Points and Youth show that the Bosstones haven’t lost a step; they’re still a great band, capable of great things.

While Pin Points was geared more towards Ska, The Magic of Youth actually draws more from the Bosstone’s poppier influences, alá Let’s Face It.  That’s not to say Ska isn’t stylistically present here, but it’s not as omni-present as on other records.  There’s also some similarities here with some of the band’s b-sides and unreleased material from the late 1990s (free downloads of all sorts of Bosstones’ rarities can be found on the band’s fan forum HERE).  The feel and sound is slick—but not overly slick.  It’s comfortably poppy in the Bosstone’s own way; frontman Dicky Barrett hardly ever raises his voice to his trademark raspy roar, sticking instead to smoother singing.  For a Ska band, the Bosstones are capable of producing a big sound in the studio—not quite wall-of-sound levels, but bigger than most Ska bands choose to create.

[check out the rest of the review after the jump]

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Talk about some weird and funny news!  Last weekend, the leader of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and announcer for Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!, Dicky Barrett went over to the house of his friend Bill Simmons (ESPN’s The Sports Guy) to watch NFL football.  At some point the police were called by a neighbor and seven armed officers showed up at the house.  The reason?  Apparently the neighbor had thought that Simmons was out of town and witnessed tough, tattooed, menacing figures enter the home, presumably to rob the place.  When the police arrived, they found four guys sitting in the living room watching football.

You can check out more information on this incident over at Deadspin



Our friend Bryan over at SkaPunkPhotos.com shot some amazing pics of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones at their show at Irving Plaza in New York City, NY on August 24th.  The Bosstones rarely tour the US anymore, but have hit the road this month in support of last year’s Pin Points and Gin Joints.

Check out all the pretty pictures HERE

Long-standing ska-core veterans the Mighty Mighty Bosstones are currently touring the country once again in support of their latest album Pin Points and Gin Joints.  This video is from said tour during their set at the House of Blues in Hollywood, CA.  The band is joined by an additional horn player, late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel!  Kimmel dusted off his bass clarinet and joined in on the songs “The Impression That I Get” and “Devil’s Night Out.”

You can check out the video on YouTube HERE

Frontman for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and announcer for Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!, Dicky Barrett is today’s guest on The Adam Carolla Show podcast.  The Bosstones are getting ready for their US tour so he decided to drop by Carolla’s podcast studio to talk about his old bartending gig in Boston and a truly epic journey through Mexico and the history of ska and some of the better reggae songs.

You can listen and download the episode HERE

Today’s video is from third-wave ska rockers Spring Heeled Jack.  It was from a performance at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City in 1998.  This band featured quite the horn section, including Pete “JR” Wasilewski (Less Than Jake) on tenor sax, Tyler Jones (Reel Big Fish) on trumpet,  and Chris Rhodes (Bim Skala Bim, The Toasters, Mighty Mighty Bosstones) on trombone.

It is exactly a week away from the long awaited release of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones‘ latest full-length album, which means it is PREORDER time!  The album is called Pin Points and Gin Joints and will officially drop on Tuesday, December 8th.  The band has posted 30 second clips of all the songs on the album on their FACEBOOK page for you to preview.  You can also preorder the CD or the double vinyl LP on that page as well.

Digging deep into the video vault, we have found these videos of Boston’s own Mighty Mighty Bosstones playing at Midway Stadium in St. Paul, MN on July 17, 1997 for the Vans Warped Tour.  The video is a little grainy, but the audio is taken from the soundboard.

Check out after more videos from this show after the jump.

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The Mighty Mighty Bosstones‘ highly anticipated full-length album Pin Points and Gin Joints will be released on December 8th, 2009.  This will be the band’s 8th studio album.  Bassist Joe Gittleman described the band’s approach to the album in an interview: “We really want to make a fun, upbeat record with a lot of cool ska stuff. Songs I look forward to playing at shows.” Dicky Barrett added that the songs reflect his “skewed and slightly distorted look at our world and life in general.”

The tracklisting for the album will be:

1. Graffiti Worth Reading
2. Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah
3. The Route That I Took
4. You Left Right?
5. Too Many Stars
6. Your Life
7. I Wrote It
8. Not to Me on That Night
9. Wasted Summers
10. Sister Mary
11. It Will Be
12. The Death Valley Vipers
13. The Bricklayer’s Story
14. A Pretty Sad Excuse

Boston’s own Mighty Mighty Bosstones have recently announced dates for Hometown Throwdown 12, their annual holiday concert series in Boston, MA.  This year’s festivities will kick off at the House of Blues in Boston on December 26, 27, and 28.  Tickets are $25 and will go on sale to the general public this Saturday, October 31 at 10 am EST.

If you are on the Bosstone’s mailing list, they will be emailing a secret presale link which will begin Friday, October 30th at 6pm EST.  Tickets will be limited!

To tide over your Bosstone’s excitement, the band has released another free song to download off their upcoming album Pin Points and Gin Joints.  To download the song “Too Many Stars,” go HERE.  The promo code is PRESALE.