That’s right, there is a story to tell here. Remember the Bolsheviks who took control of Russia in 1917? And remember that guy who was responsible for many departures to the Goelag island resort? His name was Leon Trotsky and he was one hell of a son of a bitch.

 

The music, well it’s not that regular ska as you probably know from festival bands like Less Than Jake, the emphasize lies more on the lower, almost fast jazzy tunes instead of the straight forward up and down going. In this way, the music is more relaxing (if that’s ever possible with ska) and thus more suitable for having a concept album. Listen to 'On The Black Sea' for instance while 'Party Song…'.well, is a damn party song in the more regular way of ska.

 

The singer actually can’t sing. Normally ska has the same vocal sound as punk rock, but this time, the vocals are way lower this time, resulting in a more relaxed sound of the singer. It’s more suitable for telling a story than pulling all the energy out of the crowd in front of him.

 

Although the structure is pretty well organized the music seems to be hasted and falling apart some of the times. It’s chaotic in a very literal way. 'Bad Party' has a weird part of horns use. Also, the horns sometimes just play too many notes in one amount of time. The loops seem to be endless instead of a nice add to the cool rhythms of the ska-guitar.

 

But still, this cd is a very fine piece of music. The equations with the current time and the early Russian period have been worked out nicely with both fast an slow songs (the variation between jazzy tunes, blues and punk is worth listening people!) and the way Catch Twenty Two has written songs perfectly fits with the sphere. Therefore, this album has an underlying emotion I had never experienced before with such ‘easy’ music. And that is worth a compliment.