Legitimate Business
If You Can't Take the Heat

The band Legitimate Business has released a four song EP entitled “If You Can’t Take the Heat.” It is a solid ska/punk release that keeps things interesting, with new attributes of the band showing within each song.

The EP starts off with the song “Sneaking Suspicion,” an upbeat song that really sets the feel for the rest of the album. A bass/drums/feedback intro leads into a horn line that’s simple, but fits in very well with the rest of the band. The listener can easily start to see a few trends that occur throughout the whole album. While the music is played very well and together a large amount of the time, it seems to lack a little energy. The vocalist seems very into the music and his singing does a great job of adding energy to the music. The most interesting part of this song is definitely the bridge. The horns play a bunch of melodies in a row that one wouldn’t expect to be played one after another, but they pull it off making this one of the most unique parts on the album.

The second song on this EP, “Have a Drink, Baby ” Is probably the least energetic song on the album. Unfortunately, the vocals don’t carry quite the same urgency as they had in Sneaking Suspicion. The horns also sound a bit weaker than in the last song, but that’s not too much of an issue since the horns are not meant to be the focus in this song, they’re more meant to serve as background hits and long tones. The song picks up with a building section featuring an interesting bass line and long horn tones. Then an energetic guitar solo and a chorus round out a song that is played quite well, but unfortunately lacks some needed energy.

“80 on 80 is the third song on the disc, and a very fun song at that. The song immediately starts off with a catchy horn melody playing over a strong rhythm section. The verses feature more energetic vocals that seem to be the norm on this album, sung over a tight rhythm section. A guitar solo that mildly outlines the horn melody adds a nice touch to the bridge of the song. After the bridge comes the most upbeat (and my favorite) part of the album. Vocals sung by the whole band are sung over a simple snare/bass drum beat, and then later over the song’s main horn line and rhythm section.

The EP is capped off by the song “It’s Not Murder (If You’re Already Dead).” This is definitely the fastest and most sinister song on the album, showing us a side of the band that we haven’t seen yet. The song starts off with an energy filled horn line and propels into an equally urgent verse featuring interesting accents on the bass guitar. One thing I would have loved to see in this song is harmonies between the horns in the several different melodies they play throughout the song. Sometimes it sounds like only one horn is playing due to the different horns always playing the same pitch. The bridge of the song features some well played mini-drum solos, leading into the end section of the song featuring this song’s signature fast horn parts ending with aggressive hits on all instruments and vocals alike.

I definitely recommend checking out this CD. While I wish there was more overall energy in a few songs, the entire CD is very well played by a band who really knows how to write catchy music. Legitimate Business hasn’t made it to CT yet, but if you get the chance to see them I highly suggest picking up this EP.

Reviewed By: Tyler

Date: Mon 15 Oct 07

Score: 7.0

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