The Reality of My Surroundings

The Reality of My Surroundings
Studio album by Fishbone
Released April 23, 1991 (1991-04-23)
Recorded November 1990-January 1991 at Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood, California
Genre Alternative rock, punk rock, ska punk, funk rock
Length 59:43
Label Columbia
Producer Fishbone, Dave Jerden, David Kahne
Fishbone chronology
Set the Booty Up Right
(1990)		 The Reality of My Surroundings
(1991)		 Give a Monkey a Brain and He'll Swear He's the Center of the Universe
(1993)
Singles from The Reality of My Surroundings
  1. "Fight the Youth"
    Released: 1991
  2. "Everyday Sunshine"
    Released: 1991
  3. "Sunless Saturday"
    Released: 1991

The Reality of My Surroundings is the third full-length album by Fishbone, released on April 23, 1991. It was the first Fishbone album to include former Miles Davis music director John Bigham (guitar, keyboards), who joined in 1989 during the Truth and Soul tour.

Contents

Album information

Fishbone took the rest of 1989 off before beginning to write songs for the follow-up to Truth and Soul. The project was plagued by production delays until November 1990, when the band entered Ocean Way Recording, booking two months of studio time in which to record the album. Fishbone, David Kahne and Dave Jerden produced the album, which includes the singles, "Fight the Youth", "Everyday Sunshine" and "Sunless Saturday".

The album's title comes from a line in track 3, "So Many Millions", which reads "I cannot get over legitimately, the Reality of My Surroundings do not point to the sky".

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Rolling Stone [2]
Entertainment Weekly A-[3]
Robert Christgau [4]
Piero Scaruffi [5]

With this album, Fishbone obtained critical and commercial success with a ranking of #49 on the Billboard 200 on May 18, 1991. The album is widely considered by fans and critics as the creative peak of the band. Fishbone experienced a large growth in concert tickets and record sales during this period, making two memorable television appearances: performing "Sunless Saturday" and "Everyday Sunshine" on Saturday Night Live, and "Everyday Sunshine" on The Arsenio Hall Show. (The SNL performance of "Sunless Saturday" has been re-edited in reruns. The original television broadcast showed a brief glimpse of Angelo Moore doing a backflip on stage. The re-edited version simply switches the camera angle, making it possible to see the full flip right after signaling "Special K" (Kendall Jones) to do his guitar solo.)

Music writer Piero Scaruffi called the album "ambitious and amusing", giving it a 7.5 out of 10 and placing it at #6 of his greatest funk albums of all time list.[6]

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Fight the Youth"   John Norwood Fisher, Philip Fisher, Kendall Jones 5:01
2. "If I Were A...I'd"   Chris Dowd, Angelo Moore 0:54
3. "So Many Millions"   J. N. Fisher, Moore 5:50
4. "Asswhippin'"   John Bigham, Dowd, J. N. Fisher, P. Fisher, Jones, Walter A. Kibby II, Moore 0:40
5. "Housework"   J. N. Fisher, P. Fisher, Jones, Kibby, Moore 4:46
6. "Death March"   Dowd, Moore 0:34
7. "Behavior Control Technician"   J. N. Fisher, P. Fisher 3:09
8. "If I Were A...I'd"   Dowd, Moore 0:29
9. "Pressure"   Jones, Moore 4:47
10. "Junkies Prayer"   Dowd, J. N. Fisher, Jones, Moore, Byron West 3:01
11. "Pray to the Junkiemaker"   Dowd, Moore 4:03
12. "Everyday Sunshine"   Dowd, Moore 4:57
13. "If I Were A...I'd"   Dowd, Moore 0:29
14. "Naz-Tee May'en"   J. N. Fisher, P. Fisher, Jones, Moore 4:56
15. "Babyhead"   Kibby 5:31
16. "If I Were A...I'd"   Dowd, Moore 0:53
17. "Those Days Are Gone"   Dowd, Fisher 5:23
18. "Sunless Saturday"   Jones 4:18

Accolades

Year Publication Country Accolade Rank
1991 Rock de Lux Spain "Albums of the Year" 2 [7]
1991 OOR Netherlands "Albums of the Year" 40 [7]
"*" denotes an unordered list.

Personnel

Fishbone

Additional

Engineers

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1991 The Billboard 200 49

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year Single Chart Position
1991 "Sunless Saturday" Modern Rock Tracks 7
"Everyday Sunshine" Modern Rock Tracks 14

References

  1. ^ Prato, Greg. "The Reality of My Surroundings Review". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r7279/review. Retrieved 29 April 2011. 
  2. ^ Brackett, Nathan (November 2004). "Fishbone Overview". The New Rolling Stone Album Guide: p. pg. 298. 
  3. ^ Bernard, James (April 1991). "The Reality of My Surroundings Review". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,314123,00.html. Retrieved 29 April 2011. 
  4. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Fishbone Review". robertchristgau.com. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1929. Retrieved 29 April 2011. 
  5. ^ Scaruffi, Piero. "Fishbone Info" (in Italian). pieroscaruffi.com. http://www.scaruffi.com/vol5/fishbone.html. Retrieved 29 April 2011. 
  6. ^ "Piero Scaruffi's Best funk albums of all times". Piero Scaruffi list. http://www.scaruffi.com/music/funk.html. Retrieved 29 April 2011. 
  7. ^ a b "OOR - Albums of the Year". OOR. http://www.muzieklijstjes.nl/1991.htm. Retrieved 29 April 2011. 
Fishbone
Angelo Moore • "Dirty" Walter Kibby • Rocky George • Dre Gipson • Jay Armant •John Norwood Fisher • John Steward
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilations
Fishbone 101 • The Essential Fishbone
Extended plays
Singles
"Fishbone|? (Modern Industry)" • "Party at Ground Zero" • "When Problems Arise" • "Freddie's Dead" • "He's a Flyguy" • "Ma and Pa" • "Fight the Youth" • "Everyday Sunshine" • "Sunless Saturday" • "Swim" • "Unyielding Conditioning" • "Servitude" • "Alcoholic" • "The Suffering"
Video releases