Everlast - Forever Everlasting

When Whitey Ford Sings The Blues came out, I rushed to my local Target store which was running a sale where the CD was only $8. I couldn't get the song What It's Like out of my head and I knew I had to hear the rest of the album. I was not disappointed. I even spent the time to read the complete liner notes, which is a rarity. I was a little let down that the lyrics were not included, but I got over it pretty quickly.

I was lucky that my parents never cared if I owned albums with a parental advisory sticker. They figured I heard much worse things at home and as long as I didn't repeat it, there was not harm done. Most of my friends were jealous as they had to sneak their vulgar albums home and listen to them on headphone under fear of being caught. I knew at least 3 friends that had their Adam Sandler "What the Hell Happened To Me" albums confiscated over the years and each one stills holds a grudge against their parents to this day. The one advantage of having such lax rules around language in my house was that I was able to explore music and comedy that many of my peers did not have access to. After Columbine, many records stores became fearful of being prosecuted for selling minors games that were rated Mature and CDs with Parental Advisory warnings, surprisingly I never had an issue buying R rated movies. On one fateful day, I went up to the counter at the local Record Exchange to buy Denis Leary's album No Cure For Cancer and the cashier explained to me the album was considered explicit and he would not sell it to me without a parent or guardian. When I went back to the car and explained this to my dad he was furious. He went into the store and beratedthe guy that he has no business know what he son is listening to and he saw us walking around the store together the entire time and how much of an inconvenience it was for him to have to stand in line with his son just to buy a comedy album. After that day, no one in the Record Exchange ever asked me for ID or a parent.

As for Everlast, once I knew every song on White Ford, I went out and bought all the House of Pain albums and started to memorize all of those as well. A few years went by and I had assumed that I had his entire catalog when I happened upon this album in a Borders Outlet. I jumped at the chance to hear something, but I was disappointed. There were some catchy tunes, but overall nothing really stood out. I had no interest hearing him rap about girl problems or the bible. Overall after a few spins it joined Whitey Ford on the shelf. Hearing this album again, I can now appreciate the funk beats that are littered throughout the songs. While there are no lost classics on this early solo album, it was fun to hear a rapper in his formative years before striking it be with Jump Around.

Songs I Really Enjoyed: F@*% Everybody, The Rhythm

Songs that made me want to stick a Q-tip too deep in my ear canal: What is This? On the Edge

Decision: Like the sample on Goodbye, Nah, nah, nah, nah, hey hey hey, goodbye.