Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

The ska revival is still a bit of a mysterious thing for us Brits. The current US fad for ska is slowly being overtaken by the newest thing - swing. Expect a wave of swing records to hit our shores any day now. Until then , there are a huge number of American bands embracing ska because in post grunge Christian music, ska is the new alternative rock. Purists will argue that this isn't true ska because it's been rockked up but to the general punter eight piece band The Skadaddles have enough of a skanking rhythm and horn section to pull in the punters. Production wise this isn't as creative or polished as The OC Supertones of The Insyderz who seem to have cornered the market but then The Skadaddles only have a fraction of the budget given to those guys! In the opening cut 'Unsaid' they have material strong enough to be a hit. Then the furious pace of something like 'Rudeboyz Waltz','Lie' and 'Again' is raw and ready whilst the cool slower tunes like 'Never Let Me Go' and 'S.A.V' (which starts slow and soon explodes) add enough variation to keep this interesting. Oh yeah, you get the chunky crazy fun of the interestingly named set closer 'Matt Is A Dork'

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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