Random Order
First, let me start out by saying just to get it out there, “I love this band.” I had to call my parents and let them know first. They took it reasonably well and my mom said she always knew.
“You’re a sucker for well crafted arrangements and bands that are punk rock because they love punk rock but have options”. God mom, it’s true, did you always know[?]… and as you know Random Order has plenty of options.
I have about 30 rules a band should never break and Random Order breaks none of them. Every excess on this album is in perfect moderation and balances itself with a never ending supply of awesome surprises. This band sweats the details while hopping genres and being true to every song. And there are some truly great songs.
If you could get a masters degree listening to “Do It in Quattro” on repeat it would easily be worth the student loan payment plus interest.
On “Living on a Deadline” vocalist S. Lynn Phillips tells us she’s always running out of time. This is a deadly hook. She was late for a date and now she’s single again, then loses her job. If this were any other band, this would fall squarely in the Self Absorbed Lyric Folder which happens to be circular. Random Order isn’t any other band. The delivery is full of frantic emotion but the song itself is more fun than a prank of Canadian river otters.
I don’t know who plays lead guitar on “Morning After Kill” and “Do It in Quattro” but I want to carry your child. I assure you there’s nothing sexual about this, it’s strictly platonic and purely for the good of the species. We can do it by mail if need be but I will make sure the child makes it out alive.
There’s a lot of genre hopping on this album and with each song the band demonstrates an appropriate mastery of each. There are a lot of really crappy Ska bands. Whenever I hear one I want organize an intervention. I would kindly explain to them they’re not helping.
If Random Order were only a Ska band, they would be a kick ass Ska band. They make me want to jump up and down and punch smelly hippies at rock festivals. I know I’m too old to still want to punch hippies but the great vocal hooks, awesome bass lines, powerful arrangements and perfect drums and percussion make me feel young again.
Is everyone in this band an audio engineer? The dynamics and delivery on every single song come through brilliantly. John Jowett knows where a trombone will make a song better and only plays right there. He only makes songs better, always. The vocal harmonies while a bit sparse for my taste just slay me.
The band lists too many influences to make sense but that is the overwhelming charm. To me they sound as if The Selector, The Police, The Bangles, Cyndi Looper and the Suicide Commandos all went to Muscle Shoals and forgot they had a timeline. If Bikini Kill were extremely well trained, disciplined musicians they would have sounded like this.
“Excess or Rise,” the closing track on this album had me searching for summer tour dates. Hippies beware I will be dancing my fool head off and you will likely be in my way.
