Fire Away

Artist: Ozomatli
Label: Mercer Street/Inertia
Website: ozomatli.com

After seeing a bit of Ozomatli’s set at Blues and Roots earlier this year I jumped at the chance to review this album, now it seems that it would have been better to make such a decision based on the entire set rather than just a couple of songs. To hate this album would be heartless in the extreme but nevertheless forgivable; for all the energy and enthusiasm thrown into the songs you’d be hard pressed not to find yourself pretty irritated at some moments and massively annoyed at others. It’s actually a blessing that the whole album clocks in at just over half an hour because any more of this churning nonsense could make you begin to dislike Ozomatli and that would never do.

This isn’t to say the whole album is a loss. There’s a song about being kicked in the balls which will probably make you laugh (unless you possess a cold, dead heart) and another about gay cowboys which is just about endearing enough to avoid being a stylistic error of judgement. Then there’s a couple of other songs with Mariachi infused Latino Ska party vibes that would make lamp posts dance if you played them at a street party, something that should come as no surprise from such an enthusiastic bunch of performers. However, unless you happen to really like the word ‘lite’, the rest of this album is a total loss, particularly considering the woeful inclusions of Beach Boys style ballad crooning and Jack Johnson-esque, mildly politically conscious surf rock.

There’s also one song that deserves special vitriol, that being the eye gougingly dreadful Elysian Persuasion, a song so terrible that it almost made me violently ill when I first listened to it. If you think that’s a touch hyperbolic try blasting it at full volume and see how long it takes before you’re forced to leave the vicinity in a desperate quest to find the bathroom. Its difficult to see what inspired them to produce such a hideous song, although the much vaunted Tony Berg on production may well be a likely suspect, I’d even go so far as to say that this is one of the worst songs I’ve heard this year, but that could also be put down to not owning a radio.

In short Ozomatli are immensely likeable, very exuberant and probably quite nice, particularly considering their stated support for the Good Hope Community Organisation in South Africa as detailed on the cover booklet. However, Fire Away is a misfire in light of their capabilities; as countless bands have shown in the past, if you’ve got the sort of boundless energy and contagious appeal to rock a festival crowd, don’t water down your sound for pop credentials and mainstream success.

James Farrell