Josh and the Jamtones, new-ish album, Rocksteady, has received widespread acclaim, including a coveted spot in the Fids and Kamily Top 12 of 2015. Since we launched Full Van Fun in September 2015, there were several albums that came out in 2015 that we didn’t get a chance to review. So Rocksteady will be the first of few reviews taking a look back at some of our favorite albums from 2015. When we asked Josh and the Jamtones to describe Rocksteady, they used words like “intrepid,” “frenetic,” and “maybe just a little too noisy”. For us, Rocksteady is funkified fusion of ska, reggae, punk, and rock rhythms layered with blazing horns, resounding organs, grooving guitars, insane drums, and happy voices all focused on getting you to “shake your Tailfeather”. In short, Rocksteady is AWESOME.
So how does a Full Van Fun review work? Each member of the family listens to each song and scores it as AWESOME, average, or not awesome. We total up the scores for each song as well as the whole album (e.g. if everyone in the family scores every song as AWESOME, then the album would be 100% AWESOME, if everyone scores every song as average, it would be 50% AWESOME, etc.).
The Songs We Liked
On Josh and the Jamtones’ Rocksteady, there were four perfect 100% AWESOME songs:
- Race U – As the first song, Race U gets everyone moving right out of the gate. Driving beat, horns, organ, catchy melody, and a ska bridge – what’s not to like?
- I <3 Ur Face – When this was the second song, we knew this album was going to be great. I <3 UR Face, features a funky reggae rhythm, a fun chorus with “uno dos tres, I love you’re face”, Will “Friendship” Lombardelli (The Hornitz) getting down low, a lot of “ooh ooh” and of course, a little Secret Agent 23 Skidoo.
- I Love U (JZ Remix) – I Love U was a surprising 100% AWESOME song. With the smooth groove, more Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, a little Auto-tune “I Love U’s”, and some gravelly Jamaican Father Goose, I Love U was a hit with the whole family.
- Tailfeather – Tailfeather is a frenetic rocking anthem that wraps up Rocksteady like a sonic skedaddle. The song only be made better if they added some cow bell.
The Songs We Didn’t
None! Even the “worst” song on Rocksteady was still 63% AWESOME. The whole family even liked all the little comedic “interludes” between the different songs on Rocksteady.
The Rest of the Album
The rest of Rocksteady (U&I, Rocksteady, Sloop John B., Rude Boiz, Katmandu, Monkeyman, and L-O-V-E) is bright, bouncy, and fun with most of the songs scoring more than 80% AWESOME.
Final Score
Overall, we give Rocksteady an impressive 87% AWESOME (think 4.5 out of 5 stars) which shows that everyone, including Mom, Dad, and even the older kids, thought the album was universally AWESOME!
The little ones (i.e. toddlers and pre-K) and grade school kids loved Rocksteady with both scoring it better than 90% AWESOME! The older kids, as well as mom & dad also really enjoyed the album. In a nutshell, if you want to get up move and feel groovy, you will love what was clearly one of the best “kindie” albums of 2015, Rocksteady.
Disclosure: Full Van Fun was provided a copy of the album for possible review.
