Skaloid
1988
Thrill Me Up
About This Album
Having bloated up to an 11-piece on their 1987 Skaboom! album, the Toasters had slimmed down to an octet by the time they recorded Thrill Me Up a year later. And while losing two horn players was a shame, the end result was an even tighter, cleaner, and more finely honed sound. And it certainly didn't dampen the group's enthusiasm, creativity, and, in a couple of places, outright chutzpah. That's the only way to describe "Johnny Go Ska," a sensational homage to the Chuck Berry classic, where Bucket's blistering guitar leads actually take second chair to John Dugan's swaggering sax solos, the rocking-ist horn you'll ever hear! But for sheer insouciance, "Rhapsody in Bluebeat" takes the cake, a high octane version of the evocative George Gershwin classic, that careens from cartoon-ish to James Bond-esque through slamming Two Tone. Brilliant! "Frankenska" skanks phantom-like through the opera, while "Ska Killers" brings rockabilly to Jamaica. "Decision at Midnight" just rocks, in '60s pop/rock fashion, albeit to a syncopated beat; which makes its tough take on inner city life-lyrics all the more surprising. "Haitian Frustration," meanwhile, tackles the terminally corrupt elite of that island nation, across a drum'n'bass fueled roots backing, shot through with chorale vocals and sharp brass.
Track List

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