The Voodoo Glow Skulls have always been – for me – a band that can strike greatness in one minute, only for the next to be complete and utter garbage. Unfortunately ‘Steady As She Goes’ only serves to reaffirm my faith in a band that hit both extremes, only to end up with an album which can best be described as fair.
Formed in 1988 in Riverside, California, the brothers Casillas (Frank, Eddie and Jorge) and Jerry O’Neill blasted out their Latin-fused brand of skacore on an unsuspecting audience and by the mid-90’s, after recruiting a horn section, had racked up an impressive 500,000 sales for Epitaph. The newest album, ‘Steady As She Goes,’ is their first for Victory, but whilst it is sure to thrill long-time fans of the band, those new to the Skulls crazy brand of music will be left shaking their head at just how inconsistent the band can be.
‘Voodoo Anthem’ is simply a stunning opening for the record, and will go down as one of my songs of the year. Truly an anthem in every sense of the word, it’s machine gun drumming and clever use of the horn section create a fast and furious melee which will leave you singing along with Frank until the bitter end. Skacore at its best, it’s a pity the album doesn’t live up to these heady heights again. Title track ‘Steady As She Goes’ is the opposite, a bland mid-paced number that drops the urgency and the clever use of the sax. In two songs VGS have gone from greatness to being very dull. And so the album continues in this vein.
‘Nada En La Cabeza’ is sung in Spanish and is a far better song – even if you can’t understand a word they may be singing. Again the urgency makes the song and the drumming and general musicianship is top notch. ‘High Society’ begins a lot heavier, but after the brass kicks in you just feel like you’ve heard the song before. And whilst the song aims to touch on ghetto politics, the lyrics (“the white picket fence is now made of bricks, the place that we’ve known has now turned to shit”) are so simplistic they aren’t believeable enough to convince me to change my ways. ‘One For The Road’ is also no more than average, with the guitar riff sounding ever-so-slightly familiar.
‘Ethnic Cleansing Day’ is much better, with the guitars driving the track and with the tempo more upbeat you can actually feel the urgency in Frank Casillas’ voice. Whilst the lyrics are again maybe not quite up to scratch, you can sense that VGS at least mean well. ‘Interstate Disease’ is better still and probably has the catchiest chorus here. If this track doesn’t get you pumped up, I doubt anything will. The decent Spanish track ‘La Llorona’ follows up, before ‘The Rat Traps’ kicks in. But both songs sound reasonably alike and there’s not too much to distinguish them from each other.
The social commentary of ‘Tell The People’ should be one of the better songs from the lyrical sheet, but again it flatters to deceive until it reaches the chorus. Rather ironically on ‘New Jerk Swing’ VGS sing “how many times do they play that song, broken record on and on, can’t they find a new song to sing, add some style to that thing!” and you find yourself pointing a finger in their direction and wishing they would practice what they preach. Because in short doses VGS are a great band, but over a full 38 minutes you find yourself listening to the same 3 songs 13 times. It’s a pity because the jazzy ‘New Jerk Swing’ is actually a highlight, especially compared to the silly effects-laden ‘The Basketball Song’. Then of course there’s the bonus track, a cover of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, I kid you not. And I guess it’s reasonably good.
Good, but not quite as good as it could have been, meaning ‘Steady As She Goes’ is exactly that; steady. If Voodoo Glow Skulls ever come out with an album that is as consistent as the likes of ‘Voodoo Anthem’ or ‘New Jerk Swing’ you’d have one hell of a record on your hands. But until then their inconsistency will continue to curse them.
Paul.