Less Than Jake was formed in 1992 by Chris Demakes on guitar/vocals and Vinnie Fiorello on drums/lyrics. Soon they recruited Roger Manganelli to be on bass/vocals, but they decided to go even further and add a horn section of Buddy Schaub on trombone and Jessica Mills on Saxophone.
This isn't a photo of that line-up but yeah.
LTJ has always been my favorite band and I can't entirely explain why to people. I just find their music comforting, I love the lyrics, and the actual music. They're the first music I can actually remember being in my life since I heard one of their songs in a movie back when I was 4 or so, and even back then, I loved it. That and another one of their songs caused me to look them up back when I was 11 or so, and I completely fell in love with what I heard. Their style of lyrics and music was something I had never heard before. There were lyrics I could identify with (even more-so now) and a type of music I had never heard before but instantly liked called 'ska'. Ska still remains one of my favorite genres, and LTJ just linked me to it. LTJ opened doors for other bands I grew to love such as Sublime and Reel Big Fish, which I will get onto later.
LTJ released this album back in 1995 and it was an underground ska hit. I don't think anyone had really ever heard this type of ska before. It was ska with influences from punk, pop, metal, and alternative rock. It was not produced well, this whole album sounds like it was probably recorded in Vinnie's garage without a terrible lot of producing, but that's what gives it a lot of personality, that these guys worked their butts off to make it sound good, and that as weird as it is to say, anyone can do it.
So what makes this better than something supposedly anyone can make? I have the answer, and that's heart. This album has a lot of it.
From Chris' and Roger's guitar/bass playing and vocals to Vinnie's realistic and heart-felt lyrics of true tales in his life and his views, to even Buddy's trombone playing and Jessica's saxophone playing, it just has a lot of heart. I know that's odd to say, but they were having fun and it shows. They probably never intended for this to be heard by even more than 100 people at absolute most if they got lucky, so they ran with it.
The only things bringing down this album are maybe how Chris and Roger didn't really know how to sing back then, even though they still do a good job, they just don't compare to what they later became. Nothing wrong with Buddy or Jessica. Vinnie's drumming was still good if a bit under-produced, meaning you can't hear it as well as he probably wanted, and his lyrics, while I still think are great (If he ever made a book, I'd buy it in a second), are a bit lacking in comparison to what he later made with LTJ. But look at those flaws, the only thing really bad about this album is that it's not much compared to what they later made. That isn't bad all!
I won't go into detail with many tracks on here as I did with Faith No More, which I felt the urge to because of how much the tracks by FNM varied, but I think I'll keep it kinda brief for future reviews.
Basically I think this album is amazing in a way, but I can see where a lot of people might not like it, in which case if you're new to LTJ, I wouldn't recommend this album as your first by them.
The songs are good, LTJ are in full force, and they're not going to quit for a long, long time.
7/10
Recommended Track(s): Liquor Store, My Very Own Flag
