Ballyhoo! – “Girls”
Album Reviews | Mar 24th, 2017
Record Label: Right Coast Records
Genre: Reggae Rock
Band Link: Ballyhoorocks.com
Buy on Amazon.com
Ballyhoo!’s latest album, Girls, sees the band venture into new territories (for some songs) but their reggae rock style is still in tack. I loved their previous full-length album Pineapple Grenade and Girls is just as good.
The first track “Jameson and Ginger” is a bit different than what we’ve usually heard from Ballyhoo! Lots of computerized bleeps and bloops, it’s very dubby and has echoey megaphone effect vocals. It’s a decent song to start the album off with but I prefer a track like “Mixtape,” which is the signature Ballyhoo! sound that I like. We’ve heard this one in 2015 when the band released it as a single. They were doing a PledgeMusic campaign for the album so they had to let fans have a taste for waiting awhile. In the end, I think the wait was worth it.
The title track “Girls” is another excellent reggae rock tune. Whenever I listen to Ballyhoo!, I think of the summer and the beach. This is a perfect example of that. “She Wants Love” features Jared Watson of Dirty Heads and is another stand out. The track is very Dirty Heads-ish with hip hop/dancehall beats but I really like it. The reggae rock is in there though. There’s definitely a more hip-hop/ pop element to this album which Pineapple Grenade just hinted at. Thankfully, it’s not overdone and they just use little things here and there; they found the right balance of reggae, hip-hop, dub and pop. The songs are beyond catchy like “Blaze This Weed,” which should be a hit with the “bro” types. The song just screams beach party or Hoboken. Funny enough, it’s my favorite song on the album and the one I could hear on the radio if you know, they played songs about weed.
While the second half of the album isn’t as great as the first half of the album, there’s still some good ones back there. Songs like “Gone Girl,” “One in a Million,” and “Summer Fling.” There always seems to be one sexy time song on their albums and it’s “Summer Fling” this time. Overall, Girls is a good reggae rock album but I’m still undecided if I like this more or the same as Pineapple Grenade. Right now, I’m thinking I like their previous full length better but Girls is still a top notch album that deserves your attention.
Bottom Line: Ballyhoo! Fans will be pleased with Girls
Notable Tracks: Mixtape, Girls, She Wants Love, Blaze This Weed, Summer Fling
Overall Rating:
