Buster Bloodvessel's Bad Manners - Ska Party (25 Stomping Tracks) (CD 2000)

Being a Rude Boy back in the day (1979 onwards), I bought a lot of Bad Manners records, but I have to admit they weren't my favourite amongst the Ska bands, I was more for Madness, The Specials, The Beat and The Selecter. Having said that I saw Bad Manners' first appearance on TOTP doing Ne-ne-na-na-na-na-nu-nu and promptly proclaimed to my mates 'I'm buying that tomorrow,' and did, the big fellows enthusiasm and energy just jumped out of the screen and I was hooked.

When the Ska seen faded in the early 80's and blokes started wearing make-up in a strange way, I, still, mainly listened to Ska but, unfortunately, seemed to listen less and less to the Manners, I took myself far to seriously and I think I thought Bad Manners were a bit to comical, childish if you like. How wrong was I?

About a year ago (mid 2005) I decided I wanted to replace all my Ska vinyls, covers that I'd wrecked as a kid, scratched discs, etc, and proceeded to check eBay for Madness 7'' singles. I was amazed at how many choices I had and thought I'd check the other Ska bands which eventually brought me back to Bad Manners, questioning my previous decision about the band being childish I decided to buy a reasonably price CD just to get reaquainted with their sound.

As soon as Ska Party arrived I put it in my CD player and began to listen, what an idiot I had been, this was great, foot tapping (dancing days have long gone) and heading nodding stuff, it was fun, it was lively, it was good.

The CD itself is a remix styled album where you don't get the full track just a taster (2 minutes or so on average) and then it moves into another track, but don't let this put you off, there are a few sounds I hadn't heard like their excellent renditions of Jeff Beck's Hi Ho Silver lining, Deep Purple's Black Night, The Grumbleweeds (yes it's right it's not a typo!) Cider Drinker, The Fall's I'm a Mummy and Lord Rockingham's XI Hoots Mon (theres a moose loose about this hoose). There is also BM's versions of old Cockney knees up songs like the Hokey Cokey, Oh I do like to be beside the seaside, Knees up Mother Brown and Show me the way to go home, but the song I took to straight away was the manic Ska band's fabulous rendition of a classic Jimmy Kennedy song (Who?)........ A Teddy Bears Picnic! Fantastic.

Also on there are song you will all know, if you know Bad Manners that is, like Lip up Fatty, Ne-ne-na-na, etc, Special Brew, My Girl Lollipop, Can-Can, Skaville U.K, Fatty Fatty, Skinhead Love Affair, Just A Feeling, Samson and Delilah and Lorraine. I'm so glad I bought this CD as it's reintroduced me to fun loving band with an infectious beat.

If you've lost touch with Douglas Trendle (Buster Bloodvessel) and Bad Manners this is a good way to reaquaint yourself, if you've stayed with the band then this may not be what your looking for, although Teddy Bears Picnic was well worth the money alone.