Despite being around in the middle of the ska-punk era, The Pietasters are far from cookie-cutter ska-punk. I've seen them described as ska/soul, which is as good a description as any, so let's go with that. Awesome Mix Tape #6 is their fourth album, released in 1999.
This album is has plenty of variety centred around the ska, soul and reggae genres, while maintaining the band's style throughout. In fact, I couldn't disagree more with this review's description as a "derivative" album (perhaps Alex just wanted impress us by name-dropping classic ska bands).
The slower songs- Chain Reaction, Crying Over You and Take Some Time- have a rich sound, with the horns and keyboard being used as wonderfully creamy background fill and countermelody, rather than the cheesy cameo lines between vocals as often happens with ska. Also, the sudden breaks in songs are perfectly executed and a highlight for me. As proof they're not taking themselves too seriously, What I Do, Spiderview and Somebody are amusing little numbers, including the "eggcorn" of Spiderview's title.
Yesterday's Over is a great combination of ska and soul, although strangely the cymbals sound awful. The spaghetti western style influences Everyday with You, which works really well, especially the how the groove changes between the verses and Chorus. This contrast is similar to Crawl Back Home, of which some might the minor key chorus weird, but I personally like it for being a bit left field.
Lastly, my listening notes from Wasted are as follows : "super super awesome amazingly awsome ska-swing"!! This combination of ska and swing is perfection, standing out even in the high benchmark of the rest of the album. To this day it is an all-time favourite song of mine.
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