Sinking the Eight Ball
Studio album by
Ruby Joe
Released23 September 1997
GenrePsychobilly
LabelSub•Lime Records
ProducerMike Knott
Gene Eugene
Ruby Joe chronology
Sinking the Eight Ball
(1997)		 Hot Rod Deluxe
(1999)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Cross Rhythms[1]
Cool Fools
The Lighthouse
Youthworker[2]
CCM Magazine[3]
7ball[4]
CBA Marketplace[5]

Sinking the Eight Ball is debut album by Ruby Joe. Due to its topical content, the album was pulled from some Christian book stores.[6]

The album drew upon the production talents of Mike Knott and Gene Eugene. On this release the band has a rockabilly sound, somewhere between the Stray Cats and The Reverend Horton Heat,[2] or "like a rockabilly version of Mike Knott..."[3] Lyrically the album addressed hard issues such as racism ("Skin"), the underground church in China ("People Underground"), materialism and temptation ("Fat Cat"), New Age spiritualism ("Rock 'n' Roll & My Baby"), and internal spiritual battles with our sinful nature.[2][3][6]

In "Spiritual Heroin" Russinger deals with his own former speed addiction,[2] describing how Christ can fill the need created by addictions, which one reviewer described as a "slightly disturbing metaphor."[1] The album also deals with the victims of the holocaust ("Death Train"),[4] and finally closes with "Let's Go", a "no holds barred celebration of salvation."[1]

One reviewer found the album to be on various tracks "cliché-ridden but vaguely worshipful", "weakly inspiring", and "shallow & dumb."[5] The reviewer went on to state that the attempt "to bring 1950s wholesomeness into today's moral morass" fell flat.[5]

Track listing

  1. "Skin"
  2. "Within"
  3. "Childhood Love Song"
  4. "Death Train"
  5. "Fat Cat"
  6. "Rock 'N' Roll and My Baby"
  7. "Spiritual Heroin"
  8. "Rocket Ship"
  9. "Studio, No. 5"
  10. "People Underground"
  11. "Tongue Is Numb"
  12. "Let's Go"

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rimmer, Mike (June 1998). "Ruby Joe – Sinking The Eight Ball". Cross Rhythms (45).
  2. 1 2 3 4 Menke, Jimmy (May–June 1998). "Tools / Music". YouthWorker Journal. XVI (5): 69–70.
  3. 1 2 3 Jeffrey, Anthony (March 1998). "Reviews / Sinking the Eight Ball". CCM Magazine. 20 (9): 78.
  4. 1 2 Koss, "Boss" Vic (November–December 1997). "Reviews: Sinking the Eight Ball". 7ball (15): 54. ISSN 1082-3980.
  5. 1 2 3 Hassig, Gary (February 1998). "Sinking the Eight Ball Review". CBA Marketplace. 31 (2): 72–73. ISSN 1092-7239. OCLC 36184061.
  6. 1 2 Thompson, John J. (September–October 1998). "bankshots: Ruby Joe". 7ball (20): 46. ISSN 1082-3980.
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