Big D and the Kid's Table: Strictly Rude

I'll go ahead and revile my bias and say that for many years I hated every song I sampled that was from Big D. Big D to me was always this not so great punk band coating their songs with not so great horn lines and ska beats. It was loud, messy and bland.
BUT I tried to go into this review with an open mind. I think I did a good job on that too.
I heard Strictly Rude was a whole new move for Big D and I completely agree. Its almost like a different band (almost). So I took a chance and decided to give it a listen and a review.

The basic sound of this album is just like Rancid in their Life Won't Wait era. It has that exact feel and tonality to it; so this is hardly anything new when it comes to Ska. The album opens with Steady Riot and it defines the sound for the whole album. It is a catchy and a very dance able song. The first big complaints from me come from this song and they carry through the entire album. The lyrics are not that great, both vocally and just the writing (though these may be some of the best written ones on this album). Right off the bat in the first chorus you can hear the vocals go off pitch too. All of the songs the vocals do this not really tuneful half spoken half sung thing, which works in parts and takes away a lot in others. The second is the horns. Throughout the entire album starting with this song its hard to tell what they wanted to do with the horns. Some songs when they do use the horns kinda blend way to much into the background; though I'm kinda torn on that issue cause some bands just blast their horns so bad it takes away from the song. But then in other songs they hardly use their horns to their potential if they use them at all.
The feel of the ska moves from a standard up tempo 3rd wave feel to a more slow melodic feel. This is good too; a lot of the songs don't have enough to carry them without songs that differ in feel to break up the album.
Now I can't deny this album is catchy; the songs will have you at least bobbing along to the beat. But a lot of the songs need to end at least a minute earlier then they do. The second song on the album repeats the title "Noise complaint" so many times its just ridiculous; "Souped-up Vinyl" does the same thing. Then some songs had a good idea but don't work as they should, such as DeadPan, which almost has this Reggatronic feel but really just gets old after a while.
Now there are really good songs Steady Riot, Shining On, Try out your Voice, Fly Away etc are just fun songs and they have good flow, substance and only a few flaws keep them from being grade A songs. A lot of the time that problem seems to be that they have a section they weren't sure what to do with in the song and it seems kinda thrown together.
With that in mind its easy to come to a conclusion that Big D should stick to writing these songs that ride the border between 3rd wave and Neo-2tone sounds. It works well for them for whatever reason.
When it comes to the theme of the album (a throw back to the old sounds) they shouldn't have done it. Their songs like Strictly Rude (sadly the title song) lack in flow and originality and after a while kinda bring the album down and drag it on. There is nothing wrong with slowing down an album with a more smooth or melodic song, their song Raw Revolution does that well. But their attempt at Rocksteady sounds missed their mark.
So lets see; in conclusion this is a decent album and maybe a good new starting point for Big D. They need to do a few things, figure out how they want their songs to portray their horns and write accordingly; some where between having them blended in the back to blaring them in the front. Vocals still need work; the half spoken lyrics idea has worn thin and rarely works outside modern atonal music, or only when the singer knows how to carry the tune with it. The lyrics are bland at best, some of them seem so repetitive and some seem pointless but then they recover with a song thats very sing along able. Lastly if they stay away from their old hard driven punk sound they can write catchy thoughtful songs.
So no matter what Alternative Press says this is not the best Ska album since the millennium! But it is not a bad album to have in your collection; especially if you kinda like that mid 90's Rancid sound. The music quality is sporadic, and the whole "We are Rude!" gets old (both in the lyrics and the album art); but its not a bad album in general. It also seems like an album that will kinda grow on you as you learn the songs.

Grade: C+