4EVA (Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra - SKA ME FOREVER)

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra - SKA ME FOREVER

Why you'll love it:  World class ska band at its best

Why you'll hate it:  ZERO snark or edge

We're closing in on 25 years of Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, and I'm only counting from the date of the first LP.  I've been singing their praises every year on this blog as the world's (not just Japan's) premier "big band" outfit.  There has been a lot of mud tracked being the name of "ska" in the last 20 years; so let me once again state that this band transcends the genre tag.  Only your social hang-ups can stop you from enjoying TSPO's records, because they are all, at the very least, solid pieces of work, where the talent just leaps out at you.

The last five years of TSPO have been just that.  Standard appreciable big swing, soul, regaae, ska, rock, blues (they do it all) music done well.  Nothing that makes a big impact though.  SKA ME FOREVER feels different.  Living up to its title, the songs of SKA ME FOREVER consistently make a strong impact, and feel fresher than most of their recent material.  This can be firstly attributed a higher rate of guest stars, each brining a unique sound to the table. Takuma Mitamura of 10 Feet brings a surprisingly fitting punch to "閃光" with his reggae influenced rapping.  Kiyosaku Uezu of Mongol800 classes up the album's strongest composition, "流れゆく世界の中で".  Indie rock stalwarts, Asian Kung-Fu Generation slot right in to "Wake Up!" quite well.  The guest star that leaves the strongest impression has to be one of the grandfathers of Shibuya-kei, Fantastic Plastic Machine. His chopped-and-screwed version of "Damned" is the most unique track on the album.

Well fleshed out, and laid back classy numbers like "Horizon" and "Chance" offer some nice relaxing breaks in the second half of the album, and do it a lot of service.  Usually there is too much music like this on a TSPO album for most people's tastes, but alongside all the wacky guest stars and fun songs, these slow numbers do good on reminding you TSPO are after all true musicians, not just gimmicks.  The fun songs may be the only things that turn some people off.  TSPO are overtly positive songwriters.  They cover lounge music classics ("Can't Take My Eyes Off of You") without irony.  Some of the songs may sound a bit like a Five Iron Frenzy number (yeah, I'll admit it, I liked me some FiF back in the day).  Nothing wrong with that, but let's face it.  Being positive and full of love is not "cool".  Some younger listeners may not be able to bear with that.

Only one song on here "One Way Punk" gets on my nerves.  That's mostly because it's played so early, and its sloppy composition and shouty-Engrich leaves a poor first impression for new listeners.  Maybe if it came later in the album I'd find some sort of appreciation for it, but I see it as the only dark mark on an otherwise flawless collection of songs.  Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra has always been a great band, but they usually only put out good albums.  This is a great fucking album.