Shots in the Dark: Easy Big Fella - Tasty Bits & Spicy Flicks

Editor's note: Shots in the Dark spotlights third-wave ska releases that should have been massive hits on the scene but, due to bad timing, poor luck, or a fickle record-buying public, were lost in the fray.

The Band: Seattle's Easy Big Fella

The Sound: EBF's heavy horn and keyboard sound was rooted in the 60s ska of The Skatalites (placing them in the same spectrum of traditional 3rd wave ska bands as The Scofflaws, Skavoovie and the Epitones, Dr. Ring Ding and the Senior All-Stars, and The Skalars), but filtered through the eternal sunshine vibe of 1970s AM pop radio and the earnest kitch of Lawrence Welk--think Roland Alphonso and Jackie Mitoo meet the Carpenters and Neil Diamond--check out "It's Friday" or "Gettin' the Mail" and you'll see what I mean.

The Release: One of the most brilliant aspects of this record--apart from the great songwriting and terrific performances--is how Easy Big Fella deliver this ying and yang mix of alternately campy and despondent songs completely straight, with no knowing winks or bitterness, just happy, extremely catchy, upbeat ska tunes. Most of the cuts on Tasty Bits are concerned with enduring the day-to-day grind of soul-numbing jobs just to get by (from "Solace": "Bringing home the bread/Gotta give eight so I can live again") or finding a bit of joy/luck in riding the "Seven" bus to work every day ("On the bus/weirdos entertaining us/Old bag ladies make a fuss/The world is passing by/I don't mind 'cause I don't drive"). No outlandish wishes or dreams here--just celebrating the end of the week with a song as catchy as Todd Rundgren's "Bang the Drum All Day" ("I've put in my day, so give me the night/The weekend's arrived. And we have survived./So raise a pint of stout/And give a Friday shout!/It's Friday! It's Friday!/It's good for you!/and it's good for me"!) or a mail room guy falling for one of the secretaries ("The pay is jack/The boss is a hack/The office life ain't so grand/But what could be better than a night on the town/With the Queen of administrative land?/All I want is a mail truck just built for two/All I want is to just go postal with you"). In essence, adult life kind of sucks, so you've got to find, celebrate, and enjoy the little things in order to keep hauling yourself out of bed in the morning. Not bad advice and Easy Big Fella makes it sound so good here...

The Ugly Reality: Tasty Bits was released on Moon Ska Records in 1999, just as the last nails in the coffin of 3rd wave ska were driven in by Billboard, Alternative Press, and the music industry in general (they helped build the next-big-thing hype for ska for their own purposes--pseudo ska acts--and felt completely justified in tearing it down--for SWING of all things, dammit!--guffawing as they wrote the scene's obit and eulogy). CDs by the thousands were starting to turn up at the Moon warehouse, as record chains, indie stores, and distributors purged their stacks and inventories of anything ska (who can blame them, it was seen as a has-been scene whose CD sales never lived up to all the hype). For a record about enduring crap jobs in order to live a little of one's own life (presumably to be in a band), it's timing would prove to be a self-fulfilling prophecy--they weren't going to be able to quit their day jobs to become full-time ska stars.

The Grade: B+/A-

Shots in the Dark: King Apparatus - King Apparatus

Editor's note: Shots in the Dark spotlights third-wave ska releases that should have been massive hits on the scene but, due to bad timing, poor luck, or a fickle record-buying public, were lost in the fray.

The Band: Toronto-based King Apparatus, Chris Murray's band before he ditched frigid Ontario for the warmth of Southern California, went solo (first as Venice Shoreline Chris, now the Chris Murray Combo), and found (relative) fame amongst US and international ska audiences.

The Sound: King Apparatus were one of the few 2 Tone-influenced third-wave acts to almost completely forgo horns and follow The Specials' revved-up guitar/keyboard-focused brand of ska. Interestingly, the Chuck Berry/Roddy Radiation guitar sound that drives Murray's songs often subtly incorporates elements of blues and country music.

The Release: Despite their obvious musical debt to The Specials, King Apparatus were by no means imitators to the throne--Chris Murray's powerfully original (and often sharply angry) songs coupled with the band's super-charged delivery proved that they were the real thing: a world-class ska band. From the first manic beats of "Non-Stop Drinking" to the defiantly misanthropic "Heartless," King Apparatus grab hold of the listener with their intense, compelling, and incredibly catchy songs and don't let go (after listening to the album for this review, I keep waking up at night hearing "Break Your Heart" running through my head). It's like being buttonholed by Coleridge's haunted Ancient Mariner in a dive bar--Murray is fated to tell you his tales about good and bad relationships ("Wasteland," "Hangin' On"), bogus televangelists ("Live Feed from Heaven"), a false leader urging ignorant kids to launch a racial war ("Tom Metzger's Big Plan"..."an Aryan time bomb/it's gonna get him rich/but it'll get you arrested"), all the characters hanging around waiting to be seen in the ER ("Hospital Waiting Room"), imagining his life as a TV movie ("Made for TV"..."and Nina Hagen/if we can name her price/could play my mother, my sister, my wife") before he can release you into the night, but it's all so good you'll end up buying him a drink because you want to hear more. It's a terrific album that sounds just as good, if not better, in 2008 as it did in 1991.

The Sad Circumstances: Originally released on Raw Energy Records in Canada in 1991, King Apparatus' self-titled debut--a big hit for the band north of the border--was picked up for distribution in the US by Moon Records (basically Bucket working out of his basement and me doing promotions part-time, after work out of my kitchen). Unfortunately, at the time, the American ska scene was small, disjointed, and disorganized (the pre-Internet days, baby!)--and this record went largely unnoticed and unsold. Having said that, several college ska DJs did pick up on the release and added it to their playlists and the odd skazine reviewed it, but few ska bands could venture out on the road for a national tour in support of their record (the best way to promote it) without losing their shirts--the ska touring circut just hadn't been firmly established yet.

The Grade: A-

Availability: In print and available from Asian Man Records.

The Toasters: Live at CBGBs

MVD Audio
2008

Ah, the live record...such a tricky proposition. On one hand, a band isn't worth its salt unless it can put on a good live show--a host of shortcomings can be hidden in the studio. Yet no concert performance is without its warts (despite our adulation, the musicians are only human), and capturing and conveying the vibe of a particular night in a club is difficult: you, the listener, are not in the crowd hearing, seeing, and feeling the same things everyone else is at the show. Let's be honest, listening to a concert CD can be a sterile, almost alienating experience (you're not soused, sweaty, and packed sardine-like in front of the stage, you're just probably doing something mundane at home or in your car or at work). And when we listen to a CD or LP, we kind of expect to be hearing something close to perfection from a band, whether it is a concert or studio recording, right? (Hell, the only time I'm really excited by a live recording is when the band's performance is freakin' sublime and they have altered the song in some way that greatly improves upon the original studio cut.) When you are at a gig, you're more forgiving of the band's mistakes, especially after you've had a beer or two.

The Toasters have released a number of live recordings over the years, most of them pretty good, though I'd always pick the experience of seeing them in person over Memorex. They always put on a good show. Simple as that. This brings us to The Toasters: CBGB Omfug Masters: Live June 28, 2002, The Bowery Collection. What makes this a notable recording in their extensive catalogue is that it was the last time The Toasters ever played CBs (before it closed in 2006) and the band hadn't played there since ska and hardcore were banned from the club around 1990 due to too much violence at gigs (going to a ska show in the early nineties was sometimes risky business--batteries were thrown at the band on stage, fights broke out on the dancefloor--stupid, depressing stuff). The performances here are mostly good--though there are a few bum notes (ahem, horn section) and botched lyrics (Buck totally flubs "2Tone Army" and then asks the band if they can do a song he knows the words to!). Also, the crowd that night sounds pretty lame (Sledge even asks them if they have ever heard "Run Rudy Run" before), but The Toasters make the best of it.

Since this was 2002, the band was road testing tunes in support of Enemy of the System ("Sitting on Top of the World" and "Modern World America") that sound good and the rest of the set list is made of up of a string of hits: "Shocker," "Shebeen," "Mona," "Run Rudy Run," "I'm Running Right Through the World," and one of my all-time favorites, the first Gulf War-era "Ploughshares into Guns." Trombonist Buford O'Sullivan even squeezes in his drinker's lament, "Can I Get Another?"

The CD packaging is pretty sad--mostly pictures of the skanky interior of CBGBs and a tribute to Hilly Kristal by Handsome Dick Manitoba of The Dictators--nothing about The Toasters (this recording is part of a series of live performances at CBs by various bands, so the label is saving some cash on the booklet and tray card). Also, a major complaint: the CD ends before the last song is finished; it simply fades out before they are done. Not cool.

All in all, this is not an essential Toasters recording to own, but it sounds like it was a fun night to see 'em. Obviously it's a must for Toasters completists; and if they never tour near where you live, it's the next best thing to being there. Just turn the stereo up loud. (B/B+)

Skaville UK: "1973"

Moon Ska World (www.moonskaworld.com)
2008

Despite the title track singer's nostalgia for the sounds of his youth—as a Brit of a certain age and class (“I wish it was 1973/I Roy, U Roy, Byron Lee, Al Capone, and Lee Perry on the stereo”)—the music found on this impressive disk is firmly rooted in late 70s, 2-Tone-era ska. And what else would you expect from these gifted musicians—most of whom were the musical muscle behind Bad Manners in the 80s (original Bad Manners guitarist and keyboardist Louis Alphonso and Martin Stewart, who co-wrote such hits as "Lip Up Fatty," "Special Brew," "Lorraine," and "Walking in the Sunshine") and early 90s (Nicky Welsh, composer of “Skinhead Love Affair,” “Since You’ve Gone Away,” and “Skaville UK,” plus he won a Grammy for his work on Lee Scratch Perry’s Jamaican ET record—who knew—and co-wrote many of the songs on the Selecter's quite good Cruel Britannia album)? As one might suspect, 1973 is Top of the Pops ska: catchy songs and spot-on professional performances, all produced with a high-gloss sheen. There is a lot to like here.

Stand-out tracks include “Outta My Head,” with (ex-Belle Stars) Jennie Matthais’ wonderfully husky guest vocals; the surf-ska instrumental “Third Floor Room Six”; the title track; the horn-driven “Devils Daughter”; and the dubby “Martin’s Magic Box." Skaville UK also turn in some terrific covers. Their version of Prince Buster’s “Hard Man Fe Dead” is one of the best I’ve ever heard—smoothing out the original’s choppy edges and injecting some Munsters-y surf-rock and ghoulish humor. Two Bad Manners (!) songs are reprised on 1973. “Memory Train,” one of my favorite cuts from Return of the Ugly (Bad Manners’ 1989 triumphant return to form, just in time for the kick-off of the third wave of ska), is less Buffalo Ska and more Nite Klub sofisticated here—and, dare I say, is better than the original (sorry, Fatty!). “Suicide” from Loonee Tunes is also given a fresh revival here (though don’t do it, kids!).

Sad to say that Rhoda Dakar (ex-Bodysnatchers)—who sounds better than ever—is on two of the lyrically dodgier tracks, “Brixton Cat” (chorus: “I’m a Brixton Cat/How about that?/How about that/I’m a Brixton Cat”) and “0900-LUV,” which is about—sigh—phone sex (and she co-wrote it!). (Note to self—must check out Dakar’s new album, Cleaning in Another Woman’s Kitchen, and hope that she treats herself better.)

While many of the songs on 1973 concern the past and some sort of loss—of love or youth (see “So Long Ago,” “When We Were Young,” “Memory Train,” and “1973”)—and are tinged with regret, you don’t have to be middle-aged to relate. If the lyrics don’t move you, the music certainly will. 1973 is a place you’ll wanna go. (B+/A-)

If you like 1973, do yourself a favor and check out:

Busters’ All Stars’ Skinhead Luv Affair
Bad Manners’ Return of the Ugly and Fat Sounds
King Hammond’s Blow Your Mind
The Selecter's Cruel Britannia