The Mad Caddies return to mash it up and mix it down with this exuberant and exhilarating set. The group has made its name with a delirious disregard for genre boundaries, taking punk down roads rarely traveled and flitting and fluttering from style to style; lighting here and landing there, their dizzying flight path leaves even radar in the lurch. Thematically,
the Caddies zig and zag as well, often coming full-circle along the way. They celebrate the all-night party on the moody, Latino-tinged "Just One More." But "Day by Day" tells that when you're going nowhere fast and life is just the same old same old, alcohol can help fill the void. However, life on the road can shake things up, and on the western-flavored, Two Tone-esque "10 West,"
the Caddies "drink, smoke, drink, smoke, this is what we do," across the country. But when they start drowning their sorrows on the rootsy, lovelorn "Drinking for 11," it's clear that their "Last Breath" is near. That latter number is served up in slinky swing jazz style, the ultimate alcoholic regret. In contrast are the slamming hardcore numbers, notably the fury of "Riot"; "Silence," with its anthemic cry of "bomb the enemy," is just as vehement, but this time the band skanks its way angrily across the grooves. "Villains" is just as fast and furious, but served up in Dixieland punk style. But the most breathtaking mix is "Leavin'," a mad blend of punky-Dixie-C&W-smoky swing, but it's all good, for
the Caddies have nothing but "Good Intentions," and by the time this album finishes you'll begging for
Just One More. Their most mature album yet, no longer an eccentric mix and match novelty act,
the Caddies have cemented their disparate influences into a sound that's totally unique, yet undeniably their own. ~ Jo-Ann Greene