Editing Truth and Soul

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{for|the record label|Truth and Soul Records}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Truth and Soul
| type       = Studio
| artist     = [[Fishbone]]
| cover      = Fishbone_Truth_and_Soul.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = September 13, 1988
| recorded   = 1987–1988 
| studio = [[The Sound Factory]] (Los Angeles)
| venue      =
| genre      = {{Flatlist|
* [[Funk rock]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-10-essential-funk-rock-albums|title=The 10 Essential Funk Rock Albums|first=Joel|last= McIver|author-link=Joel McIver |magazine=[[Classic Rock (magazine)|Classic Rock]]|date=July 24, 2016|access-date=March 12, 2023|url-status=live|archive-date=June 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606021940/https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-10-essential-funk-rock-albums}}</ref>
* [[hard rock]]<ref name="allmusic"/>
* [[ska]]<ref name="allmusic"/>
}}
| length     = 41:38
| label      = [[Columbia Records|Columbia]]
| producer   = [[David Kahne]]
| prev_title = [[It's a Wonderful Life (EP)|It's a Wonderful Life]]
| prev_year  = 1987
| next_title = [[Set the Booty Up Right]]
| next_year  = 1990
| misc       = {{External music video|{{YouTube|KK640dPPhXE|"Ma and Pa"}}}}{{Singles
 | name        = Truth and Soul
 | type        = album
 | single1     = [[Freddie's Dead]]
 | single1date = 1988
 | single2     = [[Ma and Pa]]
 | single2date = 1988
 | single3     = Change
 | single3date = 1988
 | single4     = One Day
 | single4date = 1989
}}
}}

'''''Truth and Soul''''' is the second studio album by American [[Rock music|rock]] band [[Fishbone]]. It was released on September 13, 1988. As is typical of the band's history of music the album features a wide array of genres including [[punk rock|punk]], [[ska]], [[reggae]], [[soul (music)|soul]], [[funk]], and [[blues]]. Additionally, ''Truth and Soul'' includes the band's earliest foray into [[hard rock]] and [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]]. The album begins with a cover version of [[Curtis Mayfield]]'s "[[Freddie's Dead]]", originally from the [[Super Fly (soundtrack)|soundtrack]] to the film ''[[Super Fly (1972 film)|Super Fly]]''.

==Recording==
Following the release of the [[Fishbone (EP)|''Fishbone'' EP]] and ''[[In Your Face (Fishbone album)|In Your Face]]'', the band had completed their original record contract with [[Columbia Records]] and renegotiated a new deal that would allow them another full-length album. It was later acknowledged as a sign of how much faith Columbia had in Fishbone at the time to continue to support their records.<ref>{{cite news|title=New Album could be the Big One for Fishbone|work=Billboard|volume=103|issue=17|date=1991|page=26|via=ProQuest}}</ref><ref name="fishdoc">Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone. Dir. Lev Anderson and Chris Metzler. Perf. Fishbone. Grindstone Media, 2010. DVD.</ref>

Guitarist Kendall Jones was becoming concerned that the band's image was "cartoonish,"<ref name="fishdoc"/> and reviews of their previous album had, in fact, criticized the attempt at socially conscious subject matter alongside other absurd frat-rock songs.<ref>{{cite news|author=Pareles, Jon|title=Pop and Jazz Guide|work=The New York Times|page=C.22|date=October 3, 1986}}</ref><ref>Christgau, Robert. "Fishbone." robertchristgau.com, Retrieved on March 31, 2010.</ref> Meanwhile, Jones was beginning to experiment with heavy rock guitar work, which was influencing Fishbone's new material. These elements together influenced the band to make a more serious album with a consistently socially conscious theme.<ref name="fishdoc" />

==Promotion==
Domestically, two tracks were released as singles in promotion of the album. The first, "[[Freddie's Dead]]", had a music video directed by Douglas Gayeton, and the second, "[[Ma and Pa]]", had a video directed by Mike Lipscombe. Additional singles were released in Europe for the songs "Change" and "One Day."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pettediscographies.com/fishbone/fishbonesingles.asp |title = Fishbone Discography - Singles - Pette Discographies: A Record Collector's Guide}}</ref> Additionally, a promotional EP titled ''Interchords'' was released with live versions of six songs from the record followed by excerpts from an interview at [[KUSF (defunct)|KUSF]] explaining each song's meaning.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fishbonelive.org/discography/Interchords/22/ |title = Fishbone discography details - www.fishbonelive.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pettediscographies.com/fishbone/fishbone09.asp |title = Fishbone Discography - Interchords - Pette Discographies: A Record Collector's Guide}}</ref>

==Reception==
Contemporary reviews of ''Truth and Soul'' were generally mixed to positive. David Silverman for the ''Chicago Tribune'' gave the album a mixed review saying that the blend of musical styles hurts the album "despite the band's talent."<ref>{{cite news|author=Silverman, David|title= Talented Sextet Fishbone in Need of Right Angling|work=Chicago Tribune|date=October 16, 1988|via=ProQuest}}</ref> In a separate review for the same newspaper, Chris Heim positively reviewed the record, especially in light of it being only the band's sophomore effort, calling the record "fresh, assured and bursting with ideas and energy [that] seem like it should come from more experienced musicians."<ref>{{cite news|author=Heim, Chris|title=Ambitious Artists Put New Life in some Old Musical Styles|work=Chicago Tribune|date=October 7, 1988|via=ProQuest}}</ref> Netherlands music magazine ''[[OOR]]'' awarded the album as the twenty-second best rock album of the year out of 154 entries.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.muzieklijstjes.nl/1988.htm| title=OOR – Albums of the Year| accessdate=December 3, 2009 |publisher=[[Muziekkrant OOR|OOR]]}}</ref>

Retrospective reviews were generally positive. Reviewing the album for [[AllMusic]], Greg Prato awarded the album four-and-a-half stars out of five and noted that, as Fishbone's first significant use of hard rock, guitarist Kendall Jones' guitar-playing yielded "often-spectacular results."<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web|title=allmusic ((( ''Truth and Soul'' > Review )))|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r37579|pure_url=yes}}|website=[[AllMusic]]|author=Prato, Greg|accessdate=February 8, 2013}}</ref> Robert Christgau gave the album a B rating and said that he didn't think the album flowed well when taken as a whole, but that each song on its own could "change any radio station's pace quite satisfactorily."<ref>Christgau, Robert. [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1929 "Fishbone"]. robertchristgau.com, Retrieved on March 31, 2010.</ref> Additionally, the album was awarded four-out-of-five stars in 2004's ''The New Rolling Stone Album Guide''.<ref>Brackett, Nathan. "Fishbone." ''The New Rolling Stone Album Guide''. November 2004. pg. 298, cited March 31, 2010</ref> Music critic Tom Moon called the album one of his "1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die"<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.1000recordings.com/pdf/1000-recordings.pdf| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105232125/http://www.1000recordings.com/pdf/1000-recordings.pdf| url-status=dead| archive-date=January 5, 2009| title=Tom Moon – 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die| accessdate=December 3, 2009| publisher=[[Tom Moon]]}}</ref> and Robert Dimery listed it as one of his ''[[1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die]]''.<ref>Dimery, Robert – ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die''; page 856</ref>

==Track listing==
{{Track listing
| headline = 
| title1 = [[Freddie's Dead]]
| writer1 = [[Curtis Mayfield]]
| length1 = 4:31
| title2 = [[Ma and Pa]]
| writer2 = [[Angelo Moore]], Kendall Jones
| length2 = 3:19
| title3 = Question of Life
| writer3 = Moore, Jones, John Norwood Fisher
| length3 = 3:02
| title4 = Pouring Rain
| writer4 = Chris Dowd
| length4 = 5:13
| title5 = Deep Inside
| writer5 = Moore, Fisher
| length5 = 1:22
| title6 = Mighty Long Way
| writer6 = Fisher
| length6 = 3:26
| title7 = I Like to Hide Behind My Glasses
| writer7 = Dowd, Moore
| length7 = 4:43
| note7 = only included on European CD release
| title8 = Bonin' in the Boneyard
| writer8 = Moore, Fisher, [[David Kahne]]
| length8 = 4:44
| title9 = One Day
| writer9 = Walter Kibby, Jones, Kahne
| length9 = 4:34
| title10 = Subliminal Fascism
| writer10 = Moore
| length10 = 1:28
| title11 = Slow Bus Movin' (Howard Beach Party)
| writer11 = Jones, Moore, Kibby, Philip "Fish" Fisher
| length11 = 2:38
| title12 = In the Name of Swing
| writer12 = Moore, Fisher, Kahne
| length12 = 2:46
| note12 = only included on European CD release
| title13 = Ghetto Soundwave
| writer13 = Jones
| length13 = 4:24
| title14 = Change
| writer14 = Jones, Dowd
| length14 = 2:58
}}

European CD version comes with a slightly different track listing order as tracks 3 (Question of Life) and 6 (Mighty Long Way) are inverted. Outside of Europe, the album contained only twelve tracks, with "I Like to Hide Behind My Glasses" and "In the Name of Swing" not included. These two tracks from the European CD version would later be released in the US on the EP ''[[Set the Booty Up Right]]''.

==Personnel==
;Fishbone
*Chris Dowd&nbsp;– vocals, keyboards, trombone
*John Norwood Fisher&nbsp;– vocals, bass
*Philip "Fish" Fisher&nbsp;– drums, percussion, vocals
*Kendall Jones&nbsp;– vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar
*Walter A. Kibby II&nbsp;– vocals, trumpet
*[[Angelo Moore]]&nbsp;– vocals, saxophone

;Production
*John Bavin&nbsp;– engineering
*[[David Kahne]]&nbsp;– production, engineering
*Larry Ferguson &nbsp;– additional engineering

==Charts==
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!Chart (1988)
!Peak<br />position
|-
! scope="row"| US ''Billboard'' 200
| 153
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
<!-- This is a licensed stream for the album, which is allowed under Wikipedia polices -->
*[http://www.radio3net.ro/dbartists/supersearch/VHJ1dGggYW5kIFNvdWw=/Truth%20and%20Soul ''Truth and Soul''] ([[Adobe Flash]]) at [[Radio3Net]] (streamed copy where licensed)

{{Fishbone}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Fishbone albums]]
[[Category:1988 albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by David Kahne]]
[[Category:Columbia Records albums]]