Skankin’ Pickle – Sing Along With Skankin’ Pickle
welcome back to the Skaject folks! this week, we’re checking out Skankin’ Pickles’ Sing Along With Skankin’ Pickle!
Sing Along With Skankin’ Pickle is a pretty solid variety record – as with their previous outings, this is not a thematic recors with a lot of connective tissue, but i think theres a fun selection of tracks here that cover a wide range lyrically and musically and provide some very fun light ska listening.
really appreciated the variety of vocals here – Lynette Knackstedt provides vocals on a larger nunber of tracks, including the opener Rotten Banana Legs and closer Watch Your Tone, though it shouldnt be surprising that im in favor of that since Toothless and Grey was my fave track off their last release. i def picked up a few other voices on other tracks – i like Mike Park a lot as a vocalist but its always cool to see those responsibilities divvied up.
something i appreciated on follow up listens is how, musically, they bunch a lot of the less bright, less pop-ier stuff in the middle of the record – Smorgasborgnine kicks off the section im talking about, and runs mostly through Hate, ranging from punkier to pop punkier and hardcore sounds, with Thick Ass Stout finding kind of a lower tempo vibe that id call laid back if it wasnt bordering on sinister. 20 Nothing is interesting to me in how it kinda sets the blueprint for the ska-pop punk sounds that would pop up later in the 90s and early aughts, esp in how it incorporates the horns to the track.
a majority of the tracks here are sillier lyrically, from talking about fictional or celebrity crushes (I’m in Love With a Girl Named Spike and It’s Margaret Cho, respectively), to Smorgasborgnine singing about partying and i also had a pretty good time with their cover of the Vapor’s Turning Japanese, but i think i most enjoyed the songs that bridged between the jokier songs – Hate brings an anti-racist message thats not new to their music, and tracks like Pabu Boy and Watch Your Tone seem to draw from more personal experience.
on the whole, pretty solid entry and some great energy on the record!
faves – Rotten Banana Legs, I’m In Love With a Girl Named Spike, Hate, Pabu Boy, Watch Your Tone
dislikes –
Sing Along With Skankin’ Pickle – 6/10
i’ll be back next week listening to God Bless Satan, by Mephiskapheles!
previous: Robbin’ the Hood | next: God Bless Satan
previous Skankin’ Pickle release: Skankin’ Pickle Fever | next: The Geeen Album
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