Commitment

by Lucky Boys Confusion

Overview

For its second Elektra effort, Lucky Boys Confusion hacks off its hip-hop jones and tailors its ska tendencies, concentrating on the poppish, punkish sound that defined the best moments of 2001's Throwing the Game. This is a wise move. Single "Fred Astaire" was the best thing about that album, and its dreamboat harmonies, sugar-smack power chords, and propulsive production are all over Commitment. After a dub intro that crams every conceivable cliche of that genre into one weird minute, the Boys accelerate into "Hey Driver." Perfectly meaningless lyrics sung in just the right timbre over a barbed-wire guitar riff and gang vocal dropouts? Yes, it's all here, and as impossibly catchy as you'd imagine. This is the song that you'll catch your father tapping his steering wheel to -- at least until the next Sum 41 single comes out. But that's OK. LBC seems to realize that its niche lies somewhere between the baby brat mall punks and Sugar Ray's jumble of sunny vibes and pop-ternative jingles. To that end, the only real nod to Lucky Boys' third wave past is "Sunday Afternoon," where vocalist Kaustubh Pandav sounds exactly like Mark McGrath, harmonizes with Half Pint, and does so over a sputtering reggae groove that rips off the acoustic guitar twinges that sold a nation on Sugar Ray's "Fly" in 1997. (The weird thing is that it also cops the off-kilter strum of Fred Durst's Method Man collabo on the Bizkit's "N 2 Gether Now," but that's neither here nor there.) Later, "Blame" does try to conjure some college town reggae rumble during the verse. But the band sounds much more comfortable sinking into the cut's blazing punk revivalist chorus. There's nothing -- and that means nothing -- revolutionary about "Hey Driver," "Broken," and "Beware." But they combine snappy, crunchy hooks with Pandav's flair for a vocal melody, and should earn Lucky Boys Confusion a slot on the year 2015's "We Were There, Too!" compilation alongside Reel Big Fish, Bowling for Soup, and Lit. ~ Johnny Loftus

Product Details

Release Date:	10/21/2003
Label:	Elektra
UPC:	0075596287425

Tracks

1. Champions Dub
2. Hey Driver
3. Broken
4. Mr. Wilmington
5. Beware
6. Commitment
7. Atari
8. Sunday Afternoon
9. Closer to Our Graves
10. Something to Believe
11. You Weren't There
12. Blame
13. South Union
14. Ordinary
15. Medicine and Gasoline
16. [Untitled Hidden Track]

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Lucky Boys Confusion   Primary Artist
Half Pint   Primary Artist
Adam Krier   Organ,Piano,Guitar,Keyboards,Percussion,Vocals (Background)
Brad Chagdes   Vocals (Background)
Joe Sell   Guitar
Ryan Fergus   Drums,Vocals (Background)
Tom Higgenson   Vocals (Background)
Sean Mackin   Vocals (Background)
Jack Maness   Vocals (Background)
Ryan Key   Vocals (Background)
Peter Munters   Vocals (Background)
A. Jay Popoff   Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Brian Gardner   Mastering
Roberto Fantauzzi   Photoshop Artist
Doug Lefrak   Production Coordination
Adam Krier   Composer,Group Member
Thomas "Baraka" Dicandia   Digital Editing
Brian Daugherty   Digital Editing,Assistant Engineer
Joe Sell   Composer,Group Member
Greg Gigendad Burke   Design,Art Direction
Lou Richards   Engineer,Drum Programming
Nabil Elderkin   Photography
Kaustubh Pandav   Composer
Michael "Miguel" Happoldt   Producer
Bill Bennett   Assistant Engineer
John Goodmanson   Mixing
David Dominguez   Engineer
Ryan Fergus   Group Member
Jay Zdyrski   Producer
Leigh Lust   A&R
Rick Barnes   Producer