'' Let's Face It'' is the fifth studio album by American

ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music together. (sometimes spelled skacore) is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 tone and ska with hardc ...

band

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (informally referred to as The Bosstones and often stylized as The Mighty Mighty BossToneS) were an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. From the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky ...

. It was released on March 11, 1997 by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

and Big Rig Records. The album sold very well due to the success of its single "

The Impression That I Get "The Impression That I Get" is a song by American ska punk band the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, released as the lead single from their fifth studio album, '' Let's Face It'' (1997), in February 1997. The track reached number one on the US '' Billbo ...

", which reached No. 1 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart. Also faring well were the album's other two singles, "Royal Oil" (No. 22) and " The Rascal King" (No. 7). The album itself reached No. 27 on the ''Billboard'' 200 (the only Bosstones album to enter the top 50). The album has been certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

. ''Let's Face It'' was rereleased on vinyl by

Asbestos Records Asbestos Records is an American independent record label in Stratford, Connecticut, United States, founded in 1996. It was established as a business to release albums and compilations for local bands, and to book shows at the Newtown Teen Cente ...

in 2013.

Reception

''Let's Face It'' has received positive reviews.

Sputnikmusic Sputnikmusic is an American music community website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites. The format of the website is unusual in that it includes both professional and amateur c ...

's Adam Thomas called the album "a quintessential piece of '90s ska" and concluded that it "shows The Mighty Mighty Bosstones at the top of their game and is one of the greatest ska-punk albums to come out of the nineties."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Steve Huey also gave the album a positive review, writing: "Even if the production is a tiny bit slick, and the playing time is rather short... it's still difficult to view ''Let's Face It'' as anything but a rousing success and easily one of the band's best albums." Stephen Thompson of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' wrote that "for every misfire like the preachy title track, there's an infectious anthem that begs to be blared from every window in the city. Play 'The Rascal King' or 'The Impression That I Get' as loud as you can get away with, and ask yourself if the Bosstones aren't back."

David Fricke David Fricke is an American music journalist who serves as the senior editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, where he writes predominantly about rock music. One of the best known names in rock journalism, his career has spanned over 40 years. I ...

of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' was more reserved in his praise, criticizing the album's "flat" production. In 2004, ''Let's Face It'' was ranked No. 36 in a ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' reader poll of the 50 greatest punk albums.

Track listing

The track "Wrong Thing Right Then" was previously available on the soundtrack to ''

Meet the Deedles ''Meet the Deedles'' is a 1998 American comedy film directed by Steve Boyum in his directorial debut, and starring Paul Walker, Steve Van Wormer, A. J. Langer, John Ashton, Robert Englund, and Dennis Hopper. This was the first live-action fi ...

''.

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

* Dicky Barrett – lead vocals, artwork *

Nate Albert Nathan Albert (born 1970) is an American music executive, songwriter, producer and guitar player. He is currently the Executive Vice President of A&R at Warner Records a division of Warner Music Group. He was previously Executive Vice President o ...

– guitar, backing vocals *

Joe Gittleman Joe Gittleman (born April 6, 1968 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) is an American musician, best known as the bass guitar player for The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. His proficiency on bass earned him the nickname "the Bass Fiddleman." Career Gittlema ...

– bass, backing vocals *

Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton Tim Burton (born John Timothy Burton; 1963), known professionally as Johnny Vegas, is an American musician who played saxophone for the band The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Burton was one of the four remaining founding band members when the Bosstone ...

– saxophone, backing vocals *Kevin Lenear – saxophone *

Dennis Brockenborough Dennis Brockenborough is an American musician who played trombone in The Mighty Mighty Bosstones for ten years and was an important contributor to the band's brass instrument-driven skacore sound. Brockenborough joined the Mighty Mighty Bossto ...

– trombone *

Joe Sirois Joe Sirois (born January 25, 1972) is an American drummer who plays with The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. He also played drums for the Boston-based band Street Dogs from 2004 to 2007. Sirois, who grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, knew Bosstone's f ...

– drums *Ben Carr – Bosstone, backing vocals

Additional personnel

Paul Q. Kolderie Paul Q. Kolderie is an American record producer, engineer, and mixer. He has worked with Pixies, Radiohead, Orangutang, Hole, Dinosaur Jr., Juliana Hatfield, Wax, Warren Zevon, Uncle Tupelo, Throwing Muses, Morphine, the Mighty Mighty Bosstone ...

– production, engineering *

Sean Slade Sean Slade (born 14 November 1957) is an American record producer, engineer, and mixer. On many of his productions he worked in partnership with Paul Q. Kolderie. Career Slade was born in Lansing, Michigan, United States. He graduated from Y ...

– production, engineering *Brian Dwyer – trumpet *Dan McLaughlin – trumpet *John Rosenberg – keyboards, backing vocals *

Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...

– mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1997 albums The Mighty Mighty Bosstones albums Mercury Records albums Albums produced by Paul Q. Kolderie Albums produced by Sean Slade