The Toasters – Thrill Me Up
welcome back to the Skaject folks! today we’re returning to the Toasters for their second full length record, Thrill Me Up
Go Girl kicks off this record, and i’m not gonna lie this one doesn’t really do anything for me. once it gets outta the intro it picks up a bit and does some fun stuff, but the overall package is just fine. Don’t Blame Me is similar, but to a lesser extent. the horns kinda don’t fit here – the bass and guitar work on the verses work a lot more than the intro and transitional bits. Haitian Frustration is a very interesting track about Haitian dictator François Duvalier – p good song! Decision at Midnight’s p catchy. the sax solo is nice but feels a bit out of place, haha. Frankenska is a fun track – exactly the type of thing i want from a song titled “Frankenska”. Thrill Me Up didn’t do a ton for me, but did improve quite a bit on subsequent listens. Ska Killers, however, is a song that i def warmed to basically immediately. love this one. Johnny Go Ska does some really odd little rockabilly ska fusion – id kinda like to see this sound explored more, since this is promising but doesn’t quite land for me. Keep On Going was another one that came up by surprise for me – this one’s really good, imo. Rhapsody In Bluebeat is a really neat instrumental closer – i’m glad Keep On Going was the last lyrical track, and i wonder if this was a hidden track.
tracks 11 – 14 were added when this finally made it to CD release in 1996 – the Haitian Frustration remix is mostly just the instrumentals. it’s nice, but the lyrics were what i liked most about it, haha. Brixton Beat… feels unfinished, especially since the track doesn’t begin proper until halfway through the runtime. interesting follow up to the East Side Beat tho. The Beat’s aight. No Respect might be my fave of these bonus tracks, and i suspect on future listenings might grow even more.
faves – Haitian Frustration, Frankenska, Ska Killers, Keep On Going
dislikes –
okay the shining beacon for me on this record was the bass. plenty of parts of this record where i could pick it out doing really fun stuff underneath everything else, and if you give this one a shot, keep an ear out. on the whole, there’s some promising sounds here, but as a complete package it doesn’t quite stick the landing. i feel like the “meta ska” stuff could get grating but here its pretty fun. consider me on board for more, haha.
Thrill Me Up – 6/10
next up, it’s a record from 1988 from some of the members of Madness, The Madness
previous: Hectic | next: The Madness
previous Toasters release: Skaboom! | next: This Gun For Hire
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