Big D & The Kids Table – For the Damned, the Dumb & the Delirious

Since signing with SideOneDummy Records, Big D & the Kids Table has defied the notion that ska has been stagnant since the 90’s.  In 2007 Strictly Rude gave an admirable nod to their ska and dub roots, and then in 2009 Fluent In Stroll reinvented the game using a variety of hopscotch, double dutch, and other unlikely candidates.  As someone who had always respected Big D but was still looking for an excuse to love them, Fluent In Stroll was a godsend.  I left the disc fully satisfied and excited at the prospect of future work.  Two years later and that work takes the form of their seventh studio album,For the Damned, the Dumb & the Delirious.  Unfortunately, this is not the brilliant follow-up I anticipated.

Now, I’m not disappointed that the band didn’t deliver on my own selfish wants; rather I’m saddened that Big D & the Kids Table reverted to the comfort of their usual formula.  The album thwarts potential with David McWane and his crew digging back to their How It Goes days (a statement die-hard fans will likely resent).  Based on style alone, McWane has never been a frontman worth rallying around.  He’s obnoxious and nasally in the worst way, and if he doesn’t challenge himself or get his band to spin something unique, runs the risk of ruining an otherwise upbeat and invigorating throwback to the 90’s. Fluent In Stroll worked so well because McWane dawned an altogether different guise.  In this regard For the Damned, the Dumb & the Delirious ignores past progress.

The album opens with “Walls,” a middle of the road ska tune that despite a tight brass section does little to stand out.  With a steady tempo, quivering organ, and jumpy upstroke, the band competently plods along with business as usual.  McWane pipes up after an extended intro, bursting into his unmistakable bumbling slurs.  But the damage doesn’t end there.  Next comes “Clothes Off” with McWane dragging out words like a drunkard, spouting off a chorus of lines like “yooouuuu help me take my clothes offff, yooouuuu clean up all my throw uuuup.”  It’s a bad idea made worse by staying close to its source material.

Not until the third track, “Modern American Gypsy,” did I find something to latch onto.  The song takes a nod from the anthemic school of ska punk, coming loaded ripe with sing along choruses and feel good attitude.  Boasting an easy tempo and functional combination of organ and brass, McWane exercises vocal restraint during the pseudo-political chorus, “modern American gypsy, bruised, battered but free.”  Along those lines, Big D & The Kids Table explore political topics with varying degrees of success.  For instance, “Brain’s-A-Bomb” tries capturing the overwhelmed mind of a paranoid citizen by rattling off string upon string of social injustice.  In this case the idea is functionally activist, but sloppy and more than a little annoying in execution.  On the flip side, “My Buddy’s Back” offers a surprisingly insightful look at troops returning from overseas, and the challenges faced by friends and family naively greeting their loved ones home.  As with most of the album, their political commentaries are hit or miss, but enjoyable when successful.

That being said, when the band gets into dub, they’re one steady knockout.  The first real dose comes with “Roxbury (Roots n’ Shoots),” surfacing to varying degrees throughout with a solid bass line in tracks like “Riot Girl,” and “Good Looking.”  Borrowing influence from their Strictly Rude days (heavy on the vocal reverberations), many sections would sound right at home alongside the The Aggrolites.

“One Day” stands as another personal high point.  The song’s minute long introduction serves as a slow, reflective saunter down a colourful acoustic walkway.  This passage lines up with an old b-side (and my personal favourite Big D song) titled “Halfway Home,” although the transition into blistering punk rock resembles latter era Lagwagon.  I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, Big D & The Kids Tableneeds an acoustic album.  Unfortunately in the context of For the Damned, the Dumb & the Delirious, it’s a case of too little too late.

At seventeen tracks in almost an hour, For the Damned, the Dumb & the Delirious forces listeners to take the strong with the weak.  Unquestionably inferior to Fluent In Stroll, but still with a few buried gems, Big D & The Kids Table has taken two steps forward only to take one step back.  It’s not complete regression (ie. the handful of dub tracks), but certainly a comfortable return to more familiar territory.  If Fluent In Stroll was an ambitious, carefully orchestrated project, then For the Damned, the Dumb & the Delirious plays more like a jam session between McWane and his crew.  Long time fans should find enough enjoyment, but those having jumped on board since the band’s SideOneDummy Records days will likely want to sit this one out.