Family Force 5- Business Up Front/Party In The Back (Classic Review)

Formerly known as The Phamily, brothers Solomon, Josh, and Jacob Olds formed what is now Family Force 5, accompanied by friends Derek Mount and Nathan Currin. In 2006, they debuted with Business Up Front/Party In The Back, having one foot in Maverick Records--a secular record label--and one foot in Gotee Records--a Christian label. With a new remix album drawing near*, it is only appropriate that I would review an FF5 album.

Business Up Front... starts with "Cadillac Phunque," a rock/rap/funk song that is pure fun and introduces the band well to those who aren't familiar with their past. "Kountry Gentlemen," the first single off the album and maybe one of their most recognizable songs, continues with the introducing of this Atlanta based crunk band by telling listeners, "My mama raised me in the durty south, A Kountry Gentleman, So you best watch ur mouth, My mama raised me in the durty south, A Kountry Gentleman, That's what it's all about." "Drama Queen" is a song that is extremely fun to watch live, and with hilarious lyrics that often get stuck in my head, this song is amazing. "Put Ur Hands Up" commands that "Ugly people put ur hands down!" The album suddenly hits a running streak of epic songs as "Love Addict," "Earthquake", "Replace Me", and "Lose Urself" all follow each other in rapid fire, and are possibly their best and most popular songs to date. "Supersonic" allows Josh Olds (aka "Crouton") to use his vocals more than he does in most songs on this album.

The infectious "Numb" closes the album, but only leaves you with wanting to dance more, which may be one of the reasons Family Force 5 re-released this album with three different songs to end it. The album only came with three extra songs, but in my opinion, those three songs were definitely worth buying it a second time. "I Love You To Death" is almost entirely screamo in the chorus, and is one of Family Force 5's hardest songs. "Face Down" and "Never Let Me Go" are two of Family Force 5's most spiritual songs. "Face Down" is a bit slower than fans of the original album might be comfortable with, but otherwise is a great track. "Never Let Me Go" is another really fun song that has a fantastic breakdown at the end.

Family Force 5 has made a tremendous impact on what Christian music can be. Even though God is not mentioned a whole lot, the lyrics are clean and having the album distributed by both Christian and secular markets, it's a great thing to have good clean music for kids to listen to, even if they aren't listening to "Christian" music. Business Up Front/Party In The Back is a sure sign that we'll have some more epic music to come from this band in the near future.
*Look for Dance Or Die With A Vengeance coming May 19th.