Mad Caddies - Keep It Going

Reviewed on May 9, 2007 by Roel

I’ve just spend two hours doing work for my study whilst playing this cd and it worked just fine for me. This says allot about both the strengths and the weaknesses of the Mad Caddies’ fifth full length album. Other than the fast paced opener and their legacy would make you believe, the Caddies have gone pretty much all reggae this time around. Where that worked more than perfectly for that other band who released their masterpiece this year, it just doesn’t feel as good with my Caddies.

Where the band mostly serves us with a nice mixture of pop, punk, Dixie, a load of ska and some reggae (and some polka perhaps), they pretty much stuck to the reggae on Keep It Going. The album’s opener is a fast paced and typical Mad Caddies carnival-esque punk song. However, it feels more than an intro than like a real song. Second song “Backyard” is an awesomely catchy reggae tune that reminds me of Sublimes best moments. After that song though, the Mad Caddies slide down to a sub par level. Slow going reggae track “State of mind” is a drag, the jumpy punk rock song “Today” with “funny” and festive horn arrangements sounds bland, while “Without you” sound a bit catchy and a bit more stupid and withholds a terribly cliché chorus.

“Reflections” is more in the line of “Backyard” and although it has a rather weak chorus, I enjoy it. Unfortunately “Lay your head down” once again sounds completely mediocre, albeit it has a couple catchy moments. After those songs, all songs are pretty catchy reggae tracks. They seem to blend into each other a bit though, due to the lack of a change of pace. Exclude to that rule the failed attempt at a “Monkey” styled hit song (Tired bones) and a jump back to their simplistic 3rd wave ska approach of old days (Pyramid scheme). I don’t care for the acoustic closer “Watcha gonna done” either.

When reading this review, you might get the idea that I completely dislike the Mad Caddies last effort. I don’t however. Although I consider it to be one of their weakest records (still better than Rock The Plank in my opinion), it has a couple of nice tunes on it. When listened to the album as a whole, it plain solid and relaxing with a couple of catchy moments. However, there aren’t many songs that are worth my attention on their own, which used to be the real strength of the Mad Caddies: write insanely good hits and back them up with a batch of solid tracks. You might say that there’s just a little extra magic required that is lacking this time around.

Keep It Going won’t go in my book as the most memorable disc of 2007, but I’ll pop it in while I’m working or want to relax a bit in the sun. If that was the Mad Caddies intention, they deserve the maximum score. I dare to think otherwise though and therefore they only pass with a mediocre grade.

Album Information

Best Song:Backyard
Medium/Type:Full-Length
Released:May 1st, 2007
Record Label:Fat Wreck Chords

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Tracklisting

  1. The Dirge
  2. Backyard
  3. State of Mind
  4. Today
  5. Without You
  6. Reflections
  7. Lay Your Head Down
  8. Tired Bones
  9. Coyote
  10. Don’t Go
  11. Pyramid Scheme
  12. Souls for Sale
  13. Riding for a Fall
  14. Whatcha Gonna Do