''Harder Than You'' is the debut album by 24-7 Spyz. It was released in 1989 via In-Effect. The album contains elements of several genres. The group flirts with

polka Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The term ...

on "Tango Skin Polka," introspective political

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

on "Ballots Not Bullets," and

speed metal Speed metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) roots.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' (Berg Publishers, 2007), , p. 31. It ...

with "Spill My Guts." The band made a video for

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

for their cover of

Kool & the Gang Kool & the Gang is an American R&B/soul/funk band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964 by brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell, with Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, and Ricky West. T ...

's "

Jungle Boogie "Jungle Boogie" is a funk song recorded by Kool & the Gang for their 1973 album '' Wild and Peaceful''. It reached number four as a single, and became very popular in nightclubs. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the number 12 song for 1974, despite ther ...

." The song was remixed into a dance version with extended electronic instrumental passages, and was popular on the club circuit. Like many 24-7 Spyz albums, the recording is out of print.

Critical reception

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' wrote that the band "mixes and matches hardcore punk and tough-minded funk on ''Harder Than You'' to achieve a singularly potent blend ... It’s the band’s freewheeling sense of fun that makes

he album He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

such a visceral joy." The ''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...

'' deemed the album "rock-ska-punk-funk-soul-reggae-hip/hop-metal-jazz-polka core." ''

The Encyclopedia of Popular Music ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.''The Times'', ''The Know ...

'' praised the "stunning performances from the Jimi Hendrix-worshipping Hazel and the energetic Fluid."

Track listing

# "Grandma Dynamite" - 3:45 (Fluid/Hazel) # "Jimi'z Jam" - 2:25 (Hazel) # "Spyz Dope" - 2:50 (Fluid) # "Social Plague" - 4:41 (Skatore) # "I Must Go On" - 3:01 (Fluid) # "Ballots Not Bullets" - 4:24 (Fluid) # "

" - 3:37 (Fluid/

/Puelm) # "Spill My Guts" - 3:37 (Fluid/Skatore/Hazel) # "Sponji Reggae" - 3:53 (

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

) # "Tango Skin Polka" - 1:28 (Fluid/Hazel) # "Pillage" - 4:40 (Fluid/Hazel) # "New Drug" - 2:55 (Fluid)

Personnel

*Rick Skatore — Bass, Vocals (TV Repairman) *Anthony Johnson — Drums (Electrician) *P. Fluid — Thoughtman (Plumber) *Jimi Hazel — Guitars, Vocals (Carpenter)

References

{{Authority control 1989 debut albums 24-7 Spyz albums