Over the last 20 years, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies (CPD) may have been pigeonholed in some fans' minds as a swing group. Fans of the band know they do so much more than swing and have been involved in the ska scene forever. Skaboy JFK: The Skankin' Hits of the Cherry Poppin' Daddies focuses on the band's ska hits from the past and a few new tracks for good measure.
Skaboy JFK focuses on the 1960s-era up-tempo form of pre-reggae Jamaican Soul known as ska. What is ska? For me it boils down to mixing Swing with Punk — a horn section, rock guitars, and an attitude. There are many definitions of ska, but they all seem to start in Jamaica and the UK in the 1960s and end when both RBF and No Doubt appeared in or near the mainstream in the 1990s. Personally, I don't buy that ska is dead.
CPD toured with many of the big ska bands when they were coming up in popularity, including the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Fishbone, Reel Big Fish, The Specials, No Doubt, and Madness. During those days, they were focused on the "Zoot Suit Riot" fans, so they didn't play a ton of ska in their sets.
Now in 2009 with two albums coming out on the same day, you'd think there would be more repeated tracks. But there's only one track - "Hi and Lo" - duplicated between Susquehanna and Skaboy JFK, so if you pick up both albums you won't be disappointed. With 12 amazing tracks on Skaboy JFK and 13 more on Susquehanna you can have a long swing/ska set that lasts a couple of hours!
Skaboy JFK focuses on the different waves of ska music - Traditiona/Bluebeat ("2:29," "Soul Cadillac"), Two Tone ("Hammerblow," "Skaboy JFK"), Third Wave ("Hi and Lo," "Sockable Face Club") and even a Fishbone-esque hybrid for good measure ("Slapstick").
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