Baked A La Ska - Just Desserts

by Fiona Hutchings

published: 12 / 9 / 2012

Label: All Made Up Records
Format: CD

intro

Polished, but also tongue-in-cheek combination of inspired covers and original material on impressive second album from Manchester-based eleven-piece ska band, Baked A La Ska

The fabulously named Baked A La Ska style themselves as an '11 headed ska monster' whose heads include Frank The Skank, Robin Sunflower and Double D. They have been rampaging across the country “leaving a trail of skanked out bodies in their wake.” This is all a bit dramatic and in your face, no? Any band that refers to themselves as "the 'heavy heavy sound' of Manchester" invite direct comparison with Madness, so I am going to compare away. Does Just Desserts deliver or leave a bitter taste in your mouth? This is Baked A La Ska's second album. Opener 'Alien' manages to mix ska with 1950's sci fi B movies with neither aspect overwhelming the other. In fact considering the size of the band they manage to keep a balance throughout the album, no one element vocally or musically dominates to an annoying aspect. 'Lil Has Gone to Paris' rolls with the dancehall humour and bawdy shouts and whistles. 'Abracadabra' is a cover of the Steve Miller Band classic with toasting for an introduction and a slight reworking of the title for the chorus. Next up is 'Trust in Me', this seems slightly familiar... childhood memories of a hypnotic reptile are coming to mind. But I don't want to spoil all the surprises this album has to offer. Since you presumably suspended disbelief when you picked up a CD featuring a camel under attack from a flying saucer in a desert dotted with cake on the cover - this all seems perfectly reasonable. 'Who Shot the Milkman?' is a mix of early Madness story telling and crime dramas like 'Middle of the Night' and David Devant and His Spirit Wife's vaudeville meets slightly paranoid hipster stylings. 'Toxic' is sinister, fabulous and proof that virtually any song can be reworked (and improved) with the addition of ska. Are they on a par with Madness? Not exactly, at least not yet. Baked A La Ska maybe lack the social commentary aspect that characterised so much of the Two Tone second wave. From their own band name to the track titles this 11 headed ska monster has its collective tongue in its cheek. But they should not be dismissed as a novelty act. There is a very real style and polish to this album. Unlike other ska bands they manage to sound both recognisably of that genre but also fresh sound of their own. No mean feat.

Track Listing:-

1 Alien
2 Lil Has Gone To Paris
3 Abracadabra
4 Trust In Me
5 Arabian Nights
6 Romeo
7 Who Shot The Milkman?
8 Plastic Love
9 Toxic
10 Road To Life
11 Wot's It All About? (Just Different)