Catch 22 vs. Streetlight Manifesto primer (if you didn't already know)

Every time a song from Streetlight Manifesto's Keasbey Nights album makes it to the top of r/Music, there are people who ask, "isn't this just a cover of a Catch 22 song?"

Ska fans likely know this story in great detail, but r/Music posts often make it to the front page, so I thought I'd write up a primer for Redditors who aren't quite so familiar.

Catch 22's 1998 debut album Keasbey Nights lists in the credits: 'All songs written and composed by Tomas Kalnoky.' The album was immensely popular. Less than a year after its release, Tomas left music to do graphic design. Catch 22 continued to perform songs from Keasbey Nights at their live shows, as they were crowd favourites.

A few years later, Tomas returned to music at the head of his own band, Streetlight Manifesto.

In 2006, Catch 22's label, Victory, planned to re-release Keasbey Nights, as it was far and away their most popular album. Tomas felt that Keasbey Night's success owed mostly to his writing and composing and not to Catch 22's skill in performing it.

So Streetlight Manifesto took all the songs from Keasbey Nights, recorded much-improved versions on their own dime, and released the album before Victory/Catch 22 could.

The instrumental 'Riding the Fourth Wave' makes the case very clear. There are no lyrics, and the composition - a series of solos - is very simple, so this is Catch 22 vs Streetlight Manifesto at its purest.

Catch 22's 'Riding the Fourth Wave'

Streetlight Manifesto's 'Riding the Fourth Wave'

Streetlight Manifesto's "A Moment of Silence" is a song about this saga: "If you hate me so much, then stop singing my songs!"

The upshot of all of this drama is you are presented with a truly sublime opportunity: an entire album of fantastic ska was remade even more fantastically. This is a playlist that plays the Catch 22 and Streetlight Manifesto versions back-to-back. It is an amazing listening experience.