Big D & the Kids Table, “For the Damned the Dumb and the Delirious” LP

cover-big-d-damnedBig D & the Kids Table
For the Damned the Dumb and the Delirious
(SideOne Dummy)

On Big D & the Kids Table‘s new album, For the Damned the Dumb and the Delirious, they return to the ska-punk sound that first got them attention. This album sounds like the best of every other “regular” album they’ve done, which can be seen as a positive for anyone who was put off by the experimentation of Fluent In Stroll. Right off the bat, the band kicks out a song that is vintage ’90s third wave. “Walls” blends the toasting elements of the Pilfers and the Agents with the “punk rock with horns” of Link 80, and the Slackers’ organ work. It’s a pastiche of every song I ever heard in 1997, and it works wonderfully.

If I ever had a problem with Big D, it’s that the band’s albums always slightly overstay their welcome. Most of their records, going all the way back to their first full-length, Good Luck, could easily have had three or four songs trimmed off. The political asperations of For the Damned the Dumb and the Delirious are admirable, and “It’s Raining Zombies On Wall Street” is a tight piece of punk rock fury, but the lyrics are at odds with “Clothes Off” earlier on the record. There are a few lyricists out there who can mix party-time imagery with revolutionary polemic. David McWane isn’t one of them, unfortunately. While he does a wonderful job of detailing alienation and personal issues in a plethora of voices and situations, the straight political lyricism is not his forte. Big points to the Zombies nod in “Good Looking,” though.

In summation: if you weren’t happy with where Big D & the Kids Table went on Fluent In Stroll, and were wanting a more tightly-focused ska-punk record in the vein of Strictly Rude, you’ve got it right here. While not quite as start-to-finish fantastic as that record was, nor as interesting as the band’s forays into experimentation have been, anything Big D does is head and shoulders above most ska-punk.

You can pre-order the album from SideOne Dummy and get a bottle opener, coaster, and coozie. It’s available on both CD and double vinyl LP.