Published on May 14, 2004
I like Ska. The problem with that statement, regrettably, is
that I don’t really know much about the genre. I first heard
Mustard Plug at a free concert when I was in high school (I’m from
the greater metropolitan area of their hometown, Grand Rapids,
Michigan), and only (relatively) recently started listening to them
again.
There are a couple of problems with
Big Daddy Multitude. For starters, it’s quite uneven. The
opening track, “Skank by Numbers,” is annoying at best and tedious
the rest of the time. The standout tracks are clear at first listen
— “Too Stoopid,” “Murder in Tulip City,” “Mr. Smiley,” and my
personal favorite track from the album, “Thigh-High Nylons.”
The bass guitar is really the star of this album; the vocals are
decent, the horns are alright but not amazing, and the guitar is
pedestrian, but the bass guitar is mixed up loud and with a
beautiful tone. Listen to “Thigh High Nylons” with headphones on
and see if you can tell me that you didn’t find that bass guitar
opening to be the greatest thing you’ve heard in a while. The thing
is, for all the beautiful bass lines, we’re still left with a jokes
that don’t work and songs that fall flat.
“Schoolboy,” “Ball Park Skank,” and “Average Guy” all try to be
funny, but maybe the humor’s beyond me, because they didn’t impress
me musically or lyrically. “I Made Love to a Martian” – much like
the rest of
Big Daddy Multitude — is mediocre, not great.
Overall, this is an album with a great deal of promise — the
problem is, because it is so uneven and unfocused, it ends up being
nothing more than fodder for a greatest hits album.