''Willis'' is an album by the

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

band

the Pietasters The Pietasters are an American eight-piece ska/soul band from Washington, D.C., with additional members from Maryland and Virginia. History In 1990, Stephen Jackson and Chris Watt met at Virginia Tech, through mutual friend Tal Bayer, who was ...

, released in 1997. It was released during the mid- to late-1990s ska explosion, and reached No. 44 on the Heatseekers chart. The album's first single was "Out All Night". The band supported the album by touring with the Cherry Poppin' Daddies.

Production

The album was produced and engineered by

Brett Gurewitz Brett W. Gurewitz (born May 12, 1962), nicknamed Mr. Brett, is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records and a number of sister labels. He has produced albums f ...

. It contains covers of the Outsiders' "

Time Won't Let Me "Time Won't Let Me" is a garage rock song that was recorded by the Outsiders in September 1965. The song became a major hit in the United States in 1966, reaching #5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on the week of April 16 of that year. It is ranke ...

" and Martha and the Vandellas' "Quicksand".

Critical reception

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' wrote that "the Pietasters mix soul and garage-rock just like any frat-party band of the last four decades ... It's a venerable party-rock formula, but rendered fresh by not only the ska-derived musical accents but also the band's solid songwriting and sheer verve." The '' Hartford Courant'' thought that "the playing throughout is gloriously sloppy; the tone, pointedly ironic ... This is ska without regrets."

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 databa ...

wrote that the band returns "to their roots of '60s pop, soul, and Motown R&B, all fueled by a syncopated beat."

Track listing

# "Crazy Monkey Woman" (Eckhardt/Goodin/Jackson) – 2:38 # "Out All Night" (Eckhardt/Gurewitz/Linares) – 3:16 # "Ocean" (Eckhardt/Goodin/Jackson) – 3:38 # "Fat Sack" (Eckhardt/Goodin/Jackson) – 2:40 # "Stone Feeling" (Eckhardt/Linares) – 4:06 # "Higher" (Eckhardt/Goodin/Jackson) – 4:45 # "

" (Tom King/Chet Kelly) – 3:06 # "Without You" (The Pietasters) – 3:23 # "Crime" (Eckhardt) – 5:02 # "Quicksand" (H. Lewis/K. Lewis) – 2:46 # "Bitter" (Eckhardt/Goodin/Jackson) – 3:53 # "New Breed" (Jimmy Easter) – 2:59 # "Moment" (Eckhardt/Goodin/Jackson) – 3:45

Personnel

* Stephen Jackson - vocals * Tom Goodin - guitar * Todd Eckhardt - bass guitar * Rob Steward - drums * Alan Makranczy - saxophone, backing vocals * Jeremy Roberts - trombone, backing vocals * Toby Hansen - trumpet * DJ Selah - additional vocals on track 4 * Caroline Boutwell - farfisa * Dave Pinkert - Hammond, B-3, Wurlitzer electric piano *

Andy Kaulkin Anti- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label to Epitaph Records. While Epitaph's focus has mostly been on punk rock, Anti-'s roster includes gospel ( Mavis Staples), country (Merle Haggard), hip hop (Sage Francis, The C ...

- piano * Carlos Linares - additional trumpet on track 7, creative consultant *

- producer, engineer * Don Cameron - assistant producer * Paul Dugre - assistant producer * Joe Breuer - assistant producer * Paul Naguua - assistant producer * Maurice Iragorri - assistant producer * Milton Chan - assistant producer

References

{{Authority control 1997 albums The Pietasters albums Epitaph Records albums