Description
The self-titled major label debut album by the American ska band Buck (“Building Up Christ’s Kingdom”) was released on Tattoo Records 1998, a division of Benson Records, manufactured and distributed in the US by Provident Music Distribution. (Because of legal problems their band name was later changed to Buck Enterprises.) The album was produced by Mark Nash of PFR fame.
When the horn section kicks in on «Truth & Life», the opening cut of Buck’s Tattoo Records debut, the effect is akin to getting smacked in the head with a wall of brass. I mean, this is one big sound – enough to evoke big band-era swing as much as it points up the band’s ska affections.
Indeed, Buck’s players are its energy, particularly the rhythm section of bassist Rick Jacoby and producer/ex-PFR drummer Mark Nash. Jacoby takes the spotlight in «Samaritan», pumping out a bottom line that leads into, of all things, a guest cello appearance by Matt Slocum of Sixpence None the Richer. It’s here that Buck shows the kind of creativity that ska bands must display if the genre is to evolve.
If there’s an area where Buck has room to grow, though, it’s vocals. Singer Dan Reynolds’ lines don’t offer much in the way of melody, and the lyrics are at times so unwieldy that he seems to struggle to spit them out. Only on the excellent «Next», when Common Children‘s Marc Byrd shares the mic, does the singing sound as poised as the music. Still, this six-piece band’s debut shows a lot of promise, and ska fans will likely eat it up. [Anthony DeBarros, CCM, February 1999]
CD tracklist:
01. Truth And Life
02. Not As We Know It
03. Testimony
04. Why Won’t Josh Dance
05. A.D.D.
06. Samaritan
07. Ewe
08. Superman Soup
09. Fruit
10. Next
11. Amazing Grace
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Tattoo Records.
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