New Jersey, now known as being the spot of a "classy" reality TV show, used to have a bit better of an entertainment past. The music department of this past was home to the 1998 founded third-wave ska band Catch 22. Since their first album is considered by many ska fans the best third-wave album to date, Keasbey Nights is seen as the poster album to the genre. There's good reason for this too. Although they weren't the first to fuse different aspects of a variety of music genres together, they seem to be one of the best of their time in doing so. Who would have thought a little movement in Jamaica would have kept up for half a century? Now, on to the real reason we're here. Let's dissect this thing and see what makes the guys from Catch 22 tick.
The first track we get is Dear Sergio, a quick, snappy song that keeps the horn section busy throughout. Some say it's about the lead singer's experience with a bully while others think it was written in sympathy for someone he might have known in high school who just had an all around bad time. Regardless, a great utilization of the entire band's areas of expertise.
Number two is about a little love interest of one of Catch 22's roster called Sick and Sad. The lyrics state that he just keeps looking for this girl he met on the street one day who he felt was perfect for him, but no matter how hard he tries, his efforts are fruitless. Lyrics aside though, it still keeps the upbeat tone of the album, masking the less happy lyrics.
The third on the list is shares the same name as the album. This one tells the story of how Keasbey, a suburb of New Jersey that most of the band calls home. It wasn't really the safest place to grow up, making them wish for a better life in the future. The
chorus sort of acts as an act of defiance against the possibility of being stuck in a bad situation by stating that they won't give up their efforts to make it a little better for themselves. I guess getting a record deal is proof that they could do it. In the way of music though, it is probably one of the more calm additions, giving a nice little break from the quick pace of the entire album.
Day In Day Out, number four, is about "just getting over it." Tomas Kalnoky simultaneously expresses his indifference towards the way kids complain about their little"problems" and the way they try to define themselves by the music they listen to. I guess it's just a way for him to vent since he didn't have the best of childhoods living in Keasbey and since he is older, he knows that are worse things to worry about. This, combined with the horn section during the bridge and Josh Ansley on the bass throughout the whole song tie in to make a great addition to Catch 22's first album.
Now for number five, Walking Away. This one really showcases the group's ability to mix a jazzy sound into their music. Right from the start, you get that trademark jazz ride pattern from Chris Greer accompanied by Ansley and a catchy muted trumpet line that leads into one big combo of solos from each of the horns. This one keeps me second guessing which is the best of the album every time I listen to it.
Giving Up, Giving In, the sixth song on the album, really just seems like an excuse to show off how much stamina each of the musicians has. It's three minutes straight of high energy punk influenced music to get you feeling like a five-year-old on a sugar high.
Number seven, On & On & On, takes the style of Walking Away and the tempo of Giving Up, Giving In and mixes them together. At least that's what I feel. more or less. To make things completely different though, they throw in a slightly slower bridge that almost reminds you of a song you would hear during a wedding. Regardless of what it may remind you of, they mesh it into their calm style heard on the album seamlessly.
For track eight, Kalnoky decides to let the instruments do the talking. Riding the Fourth Wave, an instrumental, starts of with what I believe to be an Irish Tin Whistle which sets up the melody of the song. After this, Greer decides he's going to wake up anyone listening with a high speed drum fill that morphs into another showcase of each aspect of the horn section. You get a nice little taste of the trombone, saxophone, and trumpet separately.
Ninth on Catch 22's first starts of with the trombone doing it's own thing to start off This One Goes Out To... This song is just a look back on the good memories of growing up in the new Jersey suburbs in the eyes of Kalnoky. They still decided to keep up the tempo though, no matter what the lyrics may be.
In typical Ska style, Catch 22 pays tribute to an influential music group known as Gimp by covering their song called Supernothing. Plenty of Ska bands have done at least one cover, most often making it a bit faster than the original. This is also the case for number ten on Keasbey Night's list. It's a great song that takes it easy compared to most of the tracks recorded so far. Their instruments must have been grateful.
The 11th addition, 9mm and a Three Piece Suit, gives some insight to the groups interest in old school gangster affairs. This song specifically portrays some punk kid and a female friend robbing who knows in a very Bonnie-and-Clyde-like manner. At some point, they are confronted by a policeman in the 3 piece suit and so on. Another great quick track to listen to which inspired the album's cover art.
For another failed love story, we have Kristina She Don't Know I Exist at number twelve. Unlike Sick and Sad, one of the members is just crushed at the end when he sees this Kristina with another guy in a video store. The lyrics are still masked pretty well by their rendition of Ska's upbeat style.
Used to fast paced happy sounding music yet? Well this one's going to ruin that streak more so than Kristina and Sick and Sad. Number 13's As the Footsteps Die Out Forever may fool you with the positive sounding horn section and similar sounds from the rest of the album, but the lyrics tell the story of one of Catch 22's members who experienced the death of his mother. Throughout the song, Kalnoky sings about how, even in her final three weeks, she stayed positive in front of her children. Maybe the last song on the album can get the tone back to a better feeling.
And it has! 1234 1234 as the finale to Keasbey Nights almost takes my vote for the best of the 14 songs on the album. Walking Away makes it hard for this to be first on my list. Both songs have excellent bass lines straight from the mind of Josh Ansley. Sadly, he quit after he contributed to Catch 22 which spawned Streetlight Manifesto and a totally different, but almost as good Catch 22 crew. Regardless, I feel this is the perfect song to wrap up the album. The dialog between the band members at the end where they give shout outs to their inspirations is a nice little treat too.
Supernothing: After a few songs that test the integrity of your knuckles, it's good to take a break with a song that's a little more calm then the rest of the album, that is until about a minute and a half into the song where Ansley goes back into his usual fast paced string plucking.