The Nice Guys - Rude On Friday (Self-published)

We can 't accuse The Nice Guys of being lazy, because for the track list of 'Rude On Friday' they didn't recycle a single track from their debut EP 'Sweet & Dirty'. The Nice Guys especially seem to excel in high speed ska with tongue-in-cheek slackness or rudeboy lyrics ('Gone Bitch Gone', 'Ruder Than You'), but on 'Rude On Friday' the band proves they're more than that: there's the excellent instrumental 'Right Balls, Wrong Place' with Lieven De Wit's melodica in a leading role, the swing vibes of 'Dirty One', 'The Way You Move', drunken reggae for the wee hours of the morning, and finally the beautifully jazzy 'Lucky Number', another instrumental. Our favourite tracks on 'Rude On Friday' are 'This Guy's Thing', a festive tune in which the horn section of the band really stands out, and the slower 'Dr. Big & Fat', for which The Nice Guys enlisted the help of Duke Mpti (Dukes Of Skazzard). 'Rude On Friday' is not innovative, but we don't believe that's what The Nice Guys are really about and on thing is certain: these guys know what good ska is all about!