Don't let this one 'get away'

Although the music isn't new per se, all of the tracks on Bim Skala Bim's new CD, The One That Got Away will give all but hardcore BSB fans some great new music to skank to. The One That Got Away spans 10 years of the band's recording history, and you can even listen to them in chronological order, thanks to the liner note. That's all pretty exciting, but what's even better are the seven never before released tracks; three tracks taken from various ska compilations, one B-side and two tracks remixed by none other than dub-master Mad Professor.

As usual, Bim Skala Bim steers away from ska-punk to offer up a great selection of true Second Wave ska. The music is hard to describe, but one consistent element is the group's cushion of sound created by guitar and bass. Horns and bass aren't so powerful that you can't actually hear what's going on in the music.

The One That Got Away shows off many different sides of BSB. The five tracks from the "Bones" sessions of 1992 ("Line To You," "Rain and Pour," "Burning Underground," "Sequoia," and "Murky Water") are a little more mellow than one might expect from a ska band.

"Line to You," the love song that opens up the album, and "Burning Underground," a song full of bizarre images of mineshaft fires are musically (and danceably) the most successful. "Sequoia," on the other hand, sounds a little too much like a Monkees song to really enjoy. The next track, a cover of The Beatle's "Rain," only reinforces this derivative trend.

The remixes by Mad Professor, "Dub Mistake" and "Three Legged Dub," both songs off 1997's Universal, are high points of the album.

With horn samples dropping in over forty pounds of bass and voodoo reggae grooves, Mad Professor has discovered the realm of ska-dub. Or maybe trip-ska is a better name for it. What the hell. Who needs names? It's good. Listen.

- Kaety Mayer

Bim Skala Bim is playing today at the 'Sco at 9 p.m.