Record Label: Do The Dog Music
Genre:
Band Link:
Buy on Amazon.com

Why are all of the good ska bands from other countries? That just means that when I find a really good new band, I’ll probably never get to see them live such as Spunge , Rebelation, Smoke Like A Fish and now Sadies Doll.

Sadies Doll is compared to the likes of Sublime, Edna’s Goldfish and the Police. Personally I would throw in some Pharmaceutical Bandits/Satori in the mix as well. The band doesn’t play the typical third wave ska sound that you would expect when you hear those comparisons. There are no horns to be found on this album. What is prevalent is the smooth reggae/punk sound that you would have heard on a Sublime album with Rx Bandits style vocals. The musicianship is tight and the songwriting is top-notch. I find myself immediately wishing that it were summer and I had this album blasting from my car.

“Sadies Doll” flows smoothly from one track to the next with a good variety of styles and influences. One song follows a smooth reggae vibe throughout and the next song will contain some faster punk and skankable ska riffs. There is even a dub song for you dirty dub lubbers. My only gripe with this album was that a few of the songs ended up sounding very similar to each other. It’s not enough to bore you; just a couple like songs here and there. I would like to have heard some horns here and there because I feel that they could have spiced up a few songs but hey, not everyone is into the whole horn thing.

I’ve heard of Sadies Doll before. In fact, I downloaded a couple of their songs from the Moon Ska Europe website or some other record label site, I don’t really remember, and I really liked their sound. I was excited to get their self-titled debut to review and I was not disappointed in the least. I was really big into Sublime back in the day and I really liked the release from Satori (former Rx Bandits and Link 80 members). If you were to take Sublime’s self-titled and mix it with “Savor Every Moment” by Satori, that is the exact sound that you would get when listening to Sadies Doll. It’s a breath of fresh air from a sound that has got redundant and stale over the past couple of years. I’ll definitely be listening to this album a lot in the years to come. It’s just one of those discs.

Bottom Line: Very good ska/reggae from the UK
Notable Tracks: Clear Skies, Moons Of Cheese, Cellophane Lungs, Mr. Marigold
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