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One Man Ska Explosion
Robb Blake
(Do The Dog, 2008)
Talk about your all time apt album titles. One Man Ska Explosion is exactly that. For a record that’s put together by just one guy this has a big feel to it, a furious blast of up tempo ska that belies the suggestion of a solitary composer. This isn’t the one-man-and-his-guitar approach to singer/songwriting, this is a musical full court press.
So, for album number two, ex-Whitmore man, Robb Blake, gives us 14 beer-soaked skanthems, littered with the odd rhythm and blues riff and rock ‘n’ roll moment. Throw in The Clash, Urban Voodoo Machine, Madness and Tim Armstrong alongside Blake’s former outfit and you’ve roughly pinned down the sound of this release. For the most part it’s made up of boisterous tales played out in skank-ready upstrokes and fast rhythms. It’s all held together by Blake’s cracked and worn vocal that’s rough enough to verify those songs about drinking bars dry.
By no means is One Man Ska Explosion the strongest of albums you’ll come across. At 45 minutes it’s a shade too long. The second half of the album holds up better than the first, with the closing pair of ‘If Ya Leave Me’ and ‘Until Next Time’ actually proving the standouts here; definitely a case of saving the best for last.
The album succeeds because there’s enough diversity to stop each song inking into the next. The additional instruments on offer, particularly the odd smattering of organs, means that this is anything but boring acoustic whininess. And that vocal really does serve things up nicely. It wouldn’t be unfair to suggest it carries the record as a whole. Overall, this is a party record. Blake is all about the party, all about the piss-up. This music reflects these good times and proves decent enough.
SkaMutiny Rating: 3/5
Al
