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The Fabulous Rudies
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The Fabulous Rudies
Fun1One Records
Release: 4/04/2006
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Rated:
Review by:
Jason Warner
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Who says you can't mix 20 genres at once? On their self-titled
album on Fun One Records, The Fabulous Rudies say, "Can we
do it? Yes we can!" Combining Ska, rap, funk, rock, soul, they
come at you like a complete jukebox contained in one tidy
package. Whether this should be done is all a matter of taste,
but TFR doesn't seem to have any trouble with it and actually
sound pretty good doing it, if you're into that type of
thing.
The opener, "Keep On Movin'" features fast flowing rap and
turntables, and begs us to keep on dancing till our feet are sore.
Indeed. Track two brings more of the same Ska band sound to a
nice song called, "Profit." Split male and female vocals, chugging
guitar with horn accompaniment and super busy drums make
this song enjoyable.
Track three is a cover of Nena's "99 Luft Balloons" which starts
out really slow and it sounds like the band is struggling to stay
awake in the intro. Then the verse kicks and they sound like they
all just got a fresh set of batteries. This is a slightly jazzier
rendition than the version done by Goldfinger a few years ago. I
enjoy this song and it really seems to fit the Rudies well. You can
tell they are enjoying themselves as they stretch their legs in
some nice improv breaks between verses.
Up to this point I was enjoying the album, much to my surprise.
That train left the tracks when track 4 started. "Finding
Understanding" had me searching for understanding. The song
has sort of a 50's doo-wop rock feel, but the lyrics are weak and
the feel of the song is just not good. "Richard Gere" comes next
and sucks except for a blistering trombone solo midway through
the Ska snooze fest.
"Free North America" is next and features a gospel choir singing
for a free North America. The song carries a political message
but I can't figure out of they are asking for someone to free
North America or if north America is just so free at the moment
that they are just rejoicing in the fact. My suspicion is the
former. They apparently do not enjoy living under the current
political regime and they say it loud. This song features a
snappy horn line and a tasty sax solo.
The next song, "Wheels" is a total stylistic departure from
everything else on the album, a singer/songwriter ballad that
seems out of place here, although it is a nice song. "How Can
You Save the World?" is The Fabulous Rudies rallying against the
crusades of America done in their best down-tempo reggae
style. This is a nice song reminiscent of Bob Marley carrying a
nice political message and is more clever and overall more
enjoyable than the earlier political track.
The closer is a reprise of "How Can You Save the World", called
"How Can You Save the...Dub". This is a very funky instrumental
dub number full of spacey reverb and echo and is by far my
favorite track on the whole album. I wish I could get a whole
album from these guys done in the style of the last track. Not
that there was anything wrong with the rest of the album, but
the band seems mostly clearly in their element here.
This is a fairly straightforward album that I enjoyed listening to,
for the most part. The high point for me was the instrumental
closer and I very much enjoyed the tight horns, the organ and
the locked-in rhythm section. The production is great. This is a
very talented band. I was pleasantly surprised. |
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