Keasbey Nights

Keasbey Nights is the debut album by the East Brunswick, New Jersey ska punk band Catch 22, released on March 24, 1998 by Victory Records. It is the only album by the band's original lineup, as singer/songwriter/guitarist Tomas Kalnoky, bassist Josh Ansley, and horn player James Egan all left the group later that year. Kalnoky re-recorded the entire album in 2006 with his new band Streetlight Manifesto in response to Victory's plan to re-release it. The album's title references Keasbey, New Jersey, an unincorporated area within the Woodbridge Township of Middlesex County.

Keasbey Nights
Studio album by
Catch 22
ReleasedMarch 24, 1998
Recorded1997
GenreSka punk
Length46:13
LabelVictory
ProducerCatch 22, Hillary Johnson, James Egan
Catch 22 chronology
Rules of the Game
(1996)		 Keasbey Nights
(1998)		 Washed Up!
(1999)

Track listing

All tracks are written by Tomas Kalnoky.

No.TitleLength
1."Dear Sergio"2:31
2."Sick and Sad"2:21
3."Keasbey Nights"3:02
4."Day In, Day Out"3:22
5."Walking Away"4:06
6."Giving Up, Giving In"2:48
7."On & On & On"3:14
8."Riding the Fourth Wave"1:50
9."This One Goes Out To…"2:35
10."Supernothing" (Gimp cover)2:49
11."9mm and a Three Piece Suit"1:56
12."Kristina She Don't Know I Exist"5:10
13."As the Footsteps Die Out Forever"3:11
14."1234, 1234"7:09

Personnel

Streetlight Manifesto version
Keasbey Nights
Studio album by
Streetlight Manifesto
ReleasedMarch 7, 2006
Recorded2004, June–September 2005
GenreSka punk
Length46:57
LabelVictory
Streetlight Manifesto chronology
Everything Goes Numb
(2003)		 Keasbey Nights
(2006)		 Somewhere in the Between
(2007)

In 2004, Kalnoky decided to re-record Keasbey Nights with his new band Streetlight Manifesto. The decision was prompted by Victory Records' plan to re-release the album with additional content. The Streetlight Manifesto version was originally scheduled to be released in late 2004, but was continually delayed until being released on March 7, 2006.

The re-recorded version includes several musical and lyrical changes from the original. "Dear Sergio" includes an extra verse that Kalnoky had added when he recorded the song with the Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution on A Call to Arms (2001). Day In, Day Out features a new verse in place of playing the first verse again. The muted trumpet solo in "This One Goes Out To..." was replaced with a tenor saxophone, and different instruments were also used during the solo section of "Kristina She Don't Know I Exist". Most notably, Kalnoky replaced the shout-outs during the extended ending of "1234, 1234" with a text-to-speech transcription of an interview in which he explains his motivations for re-recording the album:

We wanted to get it right for once. Plus it helps me sleep at night knowing blood, sweat, and tears were put into a record as opposed to making people pay thirteen bucks for a record and they only get flashy new cover art. This release is a preemptive strike, I guess. Whatever you want to call it, it'll piss people off, and that, at the end of the day, is all that really matters.

If there's one thing I can't stand it's when a CD is re-released untouched sonically, with a new cover and maybe a live video, and kids are duped into buying this new edition of something they already have. I was upset when I was told the guys were going to do this for Keasbey, so I offered to re-record it because I've always thought it sounded like pure garbage sound-wise. Plus the budgets we get are laughable, particularly for a band with seven musicians to record. So we used some of our own money and took our time with this one. I'll tell you right now, we have no intent on hiding our intentions. We wanted to prevent the re-release of Keasbey untouched as well as get the record to sound how it should have sounded originally. For that we sacrificed months of our time and our money, and now we feel what we have is worth paying for. Although, truth be told, I don't care if a single record is sold, as it is indeed old music, and kids have a right to know what it is and to decide whether or not they'll pay for it. Do I think it's worth thirteen dollars? Yes, very much so, but that's my opinion. What other people decide, that's their own opinion. We're going to keep doing what we do whether or not a single record is sold.[1]

The liner notes for the album include a message: "There is absolutely no way of explaining the existence of the record you now hold in your hands without somehow offending, infuriating, confusing or alienating certain parties, so we won't even try. Please enjoy this for what it is."[1]

Personnel

Reception of both albums
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [2]

Allmusic's Corey Apar rated both versions of Keasbey Nights four out of five stars. Of the original version, she stated that "ska revival fans of the late '90s will recognize the title immediately". Of the newer version, she explained that the tone "comes off a bit smoother and lacking some of the raw, youthful energy that made the original album such a cult classic." Putting both albums into perspective, she also stated: "Lacking the energy or desire to pick both albums apart and compare song by song, [the listener] shall instead be left with these thoughts."[2]

gollark: bad.
gollark: You can *say* "I don't like this" and have it enforced, instead of having to have some bizarre rigorous definition of everything.
gollark: Rule Four *works* as a reasonable benchmark.
gollark: I mean, some people would probably say I'm intolerant in some way for not wanting to read excessively NSFW stuff here.
gollark: But... no?

References
  1. Kalnoky, Tomas (2006). "1234, 1234". Keasbey Nights (CD). Streetlight Manifesto. Chicago: Victory Records.
  2. Apar, Corey. Keasbey Nights at AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-06-17.
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