Credits:
Guitars, Vocals: Brad Nowell
Bass: Eric Wilson
Drums: Bud Gaugh
Samplers: Marshall
Sublime being one of my favorite bands, I was surprised this one hadn't been reviewed yet. "Second Hand Smoke" is one of the band's later albums, released in 1997. The cd contains well-known songs such as "Badfish", "Doin' Time" and "April 29, 1992". The album consists of a total of nineteen songs, so bear with me and read up.
"Doin' Time" starts up with a catchy bass line that carries the rest of the song along. The guitars, piano and horns also sound amazing. The song is mainly an instrumental, but vocals are thrown in about a minute in. The second track, "Get Out", begins with a voice recording, Drums and horns start the actual song. The song's chorus is amazing, surprisingly its very relaxing. The later parts of the song are from and earlier Sublime track off 40 Oz. to Freedom. The next couple tracks, "Romeo" and "New Realization" sound similar to each other. They also have that 'tape recorder' quality sound, but that doesn't exactly ruin the songs. Though "Romeo" is a mediocre song, "New Realization" totally makes up for it. The guitars and vocals are 'Realizations' highlights. "Don't Push" is a song from the band's first cd release 40 Oz. to Freedom. The quality is different, it sounds better than earlier release.
The sixth track, "Slow Ride", is the usual Sublime song: Slow guitars, bass and drums, and the vocals are great with the instruments. The occasional voice recording pops up, and there is also a pretty cool but short guitar solo. The song fades out to let "Chick on my Tip" start up. This song is actually the english version of "chica me tipo", another song pulled from 40 Oz. I like this version better, the guitars sound different...in a good way. The quality of the song is much better than "chica me tipo", and the drumming sounds a bit different. Chorus is good, and the solo sounds great. "Had a Dat" starts with breif vocals, and a steady bass line carries them throughout the song. "Had a Dat" is a slow song; the instruments are quiet in this one.
Number nine, "Trench Town Rock", is one of the better songs you'll hear on the album. The track is entirely solo, with Brad on guitar and vocals. The guitar is relaxing, but unfortunatly the song is quite short.
Now the next one, "Badfish", is one of Sublime's best known songs. It is also from 40. Oz., but I could listen to this song a million times. The slow guitars and vocals are perfect together, and the drums carry them nicely. The song's solo is really good, short, but it's great. "Drunk Drivin'" is not exactly an album highlight...It's about eighteen or so seconds long. Its more of an intro to "Saw Red", a really unique song with guest vocals along with Brad's. The song has fast and slow parts, and the guest vocals really blend with Brad's to make the song sound great. The next song, "Garden Grove", is actually the opening song to the band's self titled album. Good track, slow and has alot of great sounds from the samplers. The vocal's are the highlight of the song, blending with the instruments perfectly. The next track, "April 29, 1992" is an interesting track. Brad sings about an street riot the whole song, and the samplers and guitars make the vocals sound great. At times it's difficult to tell the difference between the guitar and sampler. "Superstar Punani" sounds like typucal Sublime, it begins with a fast guitar line and the bass carries the guitar throughout he song. Brad's vocals are quick, and really sound good with the instruments. Defenitly an album highlight. The last few songs on the album sound similar, they're slow with great guitars and vocals. Guest vocals and sampler sounds are all over the place in the "Doin' Time" Remix, but the spotlight here is on Second Hand Smoke's final track. It's entirley instrumental and sounds like riffs off earlier albums. The no vocals on this song was a good idea, it really makes the intruments stand out unlike before from the earlier songs. Some of "Thanx Dub"s riffs are original, and they sound great. Long song with loads of guitar, drum and bass playing with no sampler interference. Awesome finisher to a must have album.
There ya go. I reccomend you buy this if you haven't already. It's one of Sublime's best, without a question about it.
