Man, I haven't had this much fun listening to an album in a long time. I actually find myself singing through these songs in my head, realizing I don't do them justice, and heading back down stairs to put this back on the turntable. Hell, I'm listening to it again right now with my son who's digging it as well.
A lot of people who've spoken to me after one of my band's gigs usually remarks on how much energy the band has on stage and how much fun it looks like we all are having. I gotta say, we've got nothin' on these guys! Jeez, their whole album sounds like it was a party to record. I can't imagine a world where it didn't happen that way! I don't want to imagine a world where that wasn't the case.
In a nutshell Toy Dolls are a fun-punk band. I don't mean like your Clash or Ramones or Sex Pistols. The Clash were actually quite "message based" for their time, one of the first bands like that and musically excellent. The Ramones were less musically excellent but were produced very well, loud and pretty badass. The Sex Pistols were pissed, anti-establishment, sort of middle ground musically and really lived that punk life that we all associate with this sort of music.
The Toy Dolls are completely different. Musically quite accomplished with some fascinating chord choices (think a punk song about a guy named Archie from Brooklyn but with chords reminiscent of Pachelbel Canon/Puff the Magic Dragon). The guitarist is innovative, creative and his lead singing is irreverent with a completely over-pronounced, stuffy nosed yet nasally Cockney that brings forth such classics as Nellie the Elephant (my daughter's favorite), Blue Suede Shoes (with a geometrically ascending guitar break) and their original (and my favorite) which titles the album, Dig That Groove Baby. This tune makes me think of what Buddy Holly would have sounded like had he put out a punk album in the early 80s.
I had to look all the way to Germany in order to find an original pressing of this one. Believe it or not it landed in excellent though it's quite staticky. Could just be our crap weather right now. Everything is dry, cold and brittle. This album's really heating it up in this house though... time to turn it over!
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