Last time out, BIG D AND THE KIDS TABLE caught a lot of people by surprise. ‘Fluent In Stroll’ proved quite the departure from the band’s reliable template. The addition of Motown soul and female harmonies weren’t that immediate, but on repeated listens they became enticing and pleasurable. So much so, their absence on this seventh album is somewhat disappointing. Still, better to impress once than to irritate twice.
‘For The Damned, The Dumb And The Delirious’ sees the Allston outfit return to familiar waters, although a couple of nuances fashion a certain freshness. Opener ‘Walls’ is a perfect example. It’s an upbeat ska-punk number similar in tone to 2004’s ‘How It Goes’ record. Hidden just under the surface though is a sweet sounding Hammond organ, a subtlety that enriches the overall sound. It’s a trick that the band achieves across the album with both organ and violin.
The understated changes keep on coming. ‘It’s Raining Zombies On Wall Street’ sees Dave McWane on a political offensive, a refrain from the usual joviality. Sure there are the larking, dismissive songs we’ve come to expect, but it’s not all frivolity this time. Then there’s ‘Best Of Them All’ and ‘Roxbury (Roots ‘n’ Shoots)’. The former is a song more akin to State-mates, Dropkick Murphys, whilst the latter is a Rancid-esque number. It’s Big D but slightly altered.
Ultimately, ‘For The Damned…’ is pretty solid stuff, marking a return to the familiar but upholding enough of a penchant for the different to prevent it from falling into the same-old-dross category. At 18 tracks it’s a little ambitious, but then when wasn’t a Big D album? For the most part it cements itself as a decent enough release from a band that knows how to pen a tune. However, it fails to reach the high benchmark set by 2007’s ‘Strictly Rude’, or even that of the intriguing ‘Fluent In Stroll’.