Three Dollar Bill, Y’All (1997)
I expected to dislike this, hearing it as I did after ‘Significant Other’. To the hardcore fans this is LB’s shining moment, before the great sellout of 1999. But you know what? It doesn’t sound all that different. It’s just not as good. The problem isn’t street credibility or putting the music before the money. The problem is that when they tried to write hits this time, they bombed. So they tried again and somehow pulled hit singles out of their a$$es. So you could say this is a demonstration of how they sound without any truly powerful song to lean on.
Grade: C+
Significant Other (1999)
I knew about “Nookie” and “Break Stuff”, of course, the same as anyone else listening to rock radio at this time. But I never bought the album, so I never listened to the rest. Turns out they had a coupla other hits that I forgot about. Worthy hits, at that. And even a few album tracks that demanded my attention even if they weren’t single material. They crammed a lot of good stuff on here…which may or may not bode well for their next album. But I’ll take this, right here right now, for what it is. Message? Get it while it’s hot.
(“Break Stuff”, “N 2 Gether Now”)
Grade: B+
2010: In retrospect, everything after this really sucked, huh?
Grade: A-