Search - Tossers :: Purgatory

Surely Better than most.

Nicholas A. Marshall | TX | 04/15/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ahh, another American band reliving the inspiration of the Pogues. What is it I wonder? Many bands have tried their hand at this in recent years, from the clumsy attempts at paddy-whackery of the Dropkick Murphys to the more graceful and melodious Flogging Molly. It's not only in Amerikay either. "Irish" style punky folk is popping up from Sweden to Japan. The Tossers, from Chicago have been around for a while. While they're largly hit or miss, they remain one of the better bands in this genre. This is reflected in the album "Purgatory". Some songs (The first three or four) are so great and others are so cheesy you can't help but hate 'em. The singer has a really neat singing voice but sometimes the irish accent is just a little over the top. Imagine the sound Johnny Rotten mixed with the horriblness of the vocals from Black 47. It's a strange phenomenom. I love it and hate it all at the same time. Despite the absence of great traditionals (like on the ep) I'd still recomend this album. These lads definitely do it better than most. n."

Drunken tunes

Paul Taylor | UK | 07/19/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I would sy this is one of best celtic punk albums to buy along with any other swingin utters release, the tossers play a good hybrid of genres which works well in pretty much every song its a merry album thats goes well with a barrel of guiness."

Man, I like these guys!

Solomon Kane | United States | 05/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a longtime fan of The Pogues, I bought "Communications and Convictions" on a bit of a whim. I was floored... this is an excellent band! I decided to pick up "Long Dim Road" and this one, and I'm not disappointed.

Probably a few more "ballad"-ish tunes than the other CD's I've mentioned, but no problem, they're good at those. The lyrics can be a bit convoluted at times, but why carp? This is fun, drinking party celtic/folk/punk that is just a joy to listen to. Tracks 2 and 6 stand out to me (I REALLY like mandolin!), but they are all good. The musicianship is excellent, and Tony Duggins has that drunken, slightly off-key growling vocal thing down pat. Makes me want to hoist a pint every time I crank this one up!

The Tossers are more talented and listenable than the Dropkicks or The Real McKenzies, and more traditional sounding and less mainstream than Flogging Molly. Don't get me wrong, no-one can ever even approach the magic of Shane and the boys, but I do think these guys are the best I've heard at this type of music since The Pogues.

Finally, I can't wait until the "statute of limitations" is up on my driving record, so I can cruise 100 miles or so to Chicago to hear these chaps live!!"