The Sneaks - Bizness 2001 By Daniel Laney

Although this album may have been brought into the music scene over four years ago, it really needs to be brought back into the light. Down but far from out, Andy from The Sneaks maybe carrying on as a solo artist at this moment in time but he is looking for new band members and stays focussed on the music. The love for music this man has makes it only seem fare that someone should take one of The Sneaks albums and give it the time of day and appreciate the back catalogue Andy performs now on his lonesome.

At first Bizness may appear to give the impression its going to be filled with sun tinged ska, reggae and fun rhythms and for many a track on this album the music does live up to this expectation. But there are hidden deeper and more emotive passionate tracks that break this mould.

From time to time its possible to hear Paul Simon influences coming through and perhaps even the psychedelic era of The Beach Boys; its by chucking all these influences into an album and lacing them with the sun shine ska element, The Sneaks have come up with an album harder to describe than most modern art pieces. The great thing this album has done is it has not been ashamed to try out new instruments and new techniques in order to gain new musical levels.

For instance it's easy to forget when listening to Birdland which instrument should be leading the piece forward, the harmonica or the vocals? Or could it be the guitar?

What is apparent is how much the band love music, there's no trying to catch a sound that will make them sound like a seventies rock band and there's no over use of instruments for the sake of it, you can tell they've listened to the songs and its possible to imagine them saying I bet a harmonica would make that bit sound nice or a guitar solo there would make the sound fuller. The record is a joy to listen to, the modern days technologies don't mean anything to the band, they wanted their sound to be straightforward, good music and they've done it.

A thought provoking collection of songs, this has something for every body's mood.

Also reeking of Sublime and The Clash you can just feel the musical heritage being celebrated on every song and done so modestly. If you were to go through every track with a fine-toothed comb and analyse it and pull it to pieces you would pull out a whole host of styles and influences. But I don't think this album should be looked at in this sense, instead it should be seen as a collective whole of genres and styles utilised and by doing so it has created this ambient heart warming and wonderful CD.

Although this review may read slightly wishy washy in the way its written, try and listen to The Sneaks CD and you'll understand the angle this has been produced from. Just do what you can to hear see The Sneaks, they have something about him (them) that's impossible to put your finger on but it will make you celebrate the music we have in the world and appreciate the fact that just a few notes and a drum beat can change a whole mood or conjure up memories that take you to a new level of confidence, sadness or predominantly with The Sneaks, a new level of happiness.

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