The Jesters

 This band was from Chicago. They started out in 1995 as a ska band but by the time they recorded their second album they had abandoned ska completely. I included the second album because I have it and also so you can hear it before you decide to waste your money on it. 

With all due respect, I know the giant wave of 3rd wave ska was basically over by 2002 and these guys wanted to distance themselves from ska. So why did they go in the direction of white-boy funk which was already a dead scene in 1992? Did their audience encourage this? If they had stayed true to ska they'd all be millionaires living in mansions right now but they chose a different path. Shameful.

 (Long-time Tone and Wave patrons should know that I abhor white-funk. That's because I came from a time before the internet where the only way to buy music was from local record shops which had basically the same stock month after month, or the big retailers who labelled anything with horns as "ska". I wasted so much money on white-funk music before The Wherehouse allowed returns. God I hate white-funk.)

 The Jesters - ...Which is Nice (1998)

1 Bored

2 Road Trip

3 Waiting for Another

4 Evolution

5 Zombie Skank

6 The Funky Buddha

7 Hasselhoff

8 What's Real

9 Humpty Dance

10 Bananas in the Mist

11 Alone

12 Welcome to Clown School

13 Funky Chair

14 Skank to This

15 untitled

16 Closure

17 untitled

 

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 The Jesters - Everybody Loves a Chimp (2002)

1 J. Load

2 Nippeaux

3 Harvey

4 Shame on Me

5 Tragic Sad Mistake

6 The Cell

7 One of a Kind

8 Pähn Støør Høør

9 Null Set

10 Then You Walked in

11 Shoulda Got 2

12 Dirty Muthascratcher

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The Sprawl - Ska Mitzvah, Heat Miser, Sea Weed (1992)

 

This was one of those white-funk / reggae bands from the early 90s. They were from Texas and they released 4 albums - "King of Parking", "Deflorist", "The Man with the Yellow Hat", and "America is Dying of Wetnurse". All 4 albums can be found HERE. 

1 Ska Mitzvah

2 Heat Miser

3 No Coloreds in Funland 'cause Whitey's on the Moonwalk

4 Blue Green Slime

5 Heat Mixer

6 Sea Weed

 

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Any Old Charlie - Any Old Charlie (1998)

 Somebody commented that I don't post real ska. They're a little bit right. I have posted real ska for 15 years. I'm running low on pure in-your-face ska. But real ska fans collect the ska anyway so they already have it. What they may not have are the ska-ish things. There are so many things on eBay and Discogs labeled "ska" and I'm a sucker so I buy them all. I am disappointed half the time. But, just because the music isn't pure ska by a full time ska band doesn't mean there aren't some gems to be found. 

 I have never been a fan of white funk or "skronk". I just don't like it. But I have so much of it and I should be posting it because they do play an occasional ska song. Not only that, but I have the music. Why not share it? I know there are people out there that do like things that I don't necessarily like so I post it for them. Especially if it's rare. Sometimes I post things that I think most people agree isn't very good but I post it so people can hear it and maybe keep them from blowing their money on it. 

 Not only that, but I never post something that is ska-ish as a stand-alone post. I always try to do more than one post so you get the ska you're wanting and you can ignore the other stuff.

 

This CD is a perfect example. It's very rare. I haven't seen it anywhere online. I am not a fan because there are 6 songs and 5 of them are white-boy-funk. Not my cup of tea. But there is one decent ska song. 

 Maybe somebody out there will enjoy this. If you only want pure ska then skip this one. 

· Any Old Charlie - Oh Charlie (1998)

 

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SKWZBXX

I'm not a big fan of this sort of thing. I call it white funk with some ska influences, but the kids these days are calling it "skronk".

There were a lot of bands in the 90s playing skronk but I never actually met anybody who listens to it. I have a few of these bands' recordings that I have never really felt pressured to post on the blog before but I hate seeing a great post on some other music blogs who post the punk tracks but skip posting the ska songs because they personally don't like ska. I don't want to be like that so I'll post skronk or white-funk even though I don't care for it myself because there just has to be somebody out there who appreciates it. (Anybody?)

 As it happens this band SKWZBXX (pronounced 'squeeze-box') is the band who invented the word 'skronk'. In fact it was the trumpet player (coronet player to be correct) Charlton Singleton who combined the words 'ska', 'rock', and 'funk' to describe their sound.  

 

  

SKWZBXX - Secret 68 (1997)

1 Radio Song

2 Waxed

3 I Got a Feelin'

4 Thursday

5 Dear Father

6 The Healing

7 Road Trip

8 Brothel

9 War on Peace

SKWZBXX - Ghost (1998 demo)

1 Thursday

2 Turn the Lights Down

3 Maybe

4 Skip-Bo

SKWZBXX - Freak in My Candy (1999)

1 Nothing to Say

2 Codeine

3 Stay Awake

4 Goonesbury Pie and Sourmash

5 Shine

6 Love Leave Me on the Ground

7 One of these Days

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Active Culture - Power of Assimilation (1993)

I'm pretty sure these guys were from Maine but I can't find out for sure. Too many ska bands from this era played very little ska and a whole lotta funk and punk and other things. These guys dabbled in the funk/punk/other sounds but they stuck to ska closer than a lot of other bands did at the time.

I know they have a demo tape that I have never been able to find anything about. Not a tracklist or the cover or anything. Besides that, this is the only thing they ever released but they had four different songs on compilations. One of which (at least one) is from the demo.

There are only 10 tracks on this album but I have added the four songs from the comps so here is just about everything they ever released.


1 Redneck Ska
2 Skary
3 Bully Pulpit
4 Type of Joke
5 Work Rest and Play
6 Rudyscooter
7 Blessed
8 Blue Water
9 Urban Jungle
10 Bonus Track

11 Bully Pulpit (demo version)
12 Eat & Eat & Eat
13 Marshall Law
14 Dick Tracy Cues

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Full Stop - Get Nice (1991)

1 Never Run Away
2 Try
3 Dubbin'
4 Sweet Candlelight
5 The Other One
6 Soul Survivor
7 All Over
8 Skankin
9 Jah Rastafari

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