Epitaph / Ada
2001
Wasted Days
About This Album
"Boogie in the Bayou" might be a better name for the Slackers' fourth studio album, Wasted Days. No longer just a traditional ska band (if they ever were to begin with), the band experiments here with different instruments, including a petal steel guitar and a violin. The twangy guitar adds a down-home country feel to the band's unique brand of ska and rocksteady, especially on "Dave's Friend," a tough-love message to a drug-addled comrade. Keyboardist Vic Ruggiero's songwriting and vocals are as strong as ever, with compelling stories about love gone awry in the title track and "So This Is the Night." Fans of the swinging rhythm of "Sarah" on Better Late Than Never will love "Please Decide." And the Slack does an admirable job of applying the rocksteady to Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive." The Slackers seem to take a democratic approach to the microphone -- almost everyone gets a turn at singing. Ruggiero's rough, crooning Brooklynese, supported by the soul-filled harmonies of Marq Lyn, never misses. Jeremy Mushlin, who played trumpet on earlier albums, appears once on this record in the goofy yet lovable persona of "DJ Mush 1," where he howls reggae-style over the dubbed-down "Pets of the World.
Track List (try tracks 1,5,6,7,8,9,10,12,13,15 and 16)

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