Cover albums rule. I'm still waiting for my dream album of heavy-as-stink
metal versions of popular songs. Until then, this is the next best thing:
pop punk versions of popular songs. Pranksters Ghoti Hook try their hand
at classic rockers like "I Love Rock and Roll" and "Just What I Needed";
oldies like "Earth Angel," "Burnin' Love," and "On the Road Again"; and
lesser known indie/punk gems by The Dead Milkmen, X, The Pixies, The Violent
Femmes, and so on. The two "Christian" songs to make the cut are from different
extremes: Michael W. Smith's teeny-bopper theme-song "Friends" and Stavesacre's
intense "Acquiesce." The latter is one of the album's best cuts and
drove me to pull out a
Stavesacre disc afterwards.
Overall, the selection is greater, more diverse, and more fun than
MxPx's similar but shorter On the Cover album a few years back.
The production (engineered by Kevin 131 of Aleixa) is crisp and complaint-free.
One possible weakness might be that Joel's vocals aren't always distinctive
enough to be interesting, which dulls the style of some of the songs. Also,
one of the things that sets Ghoti Hook apart from the million other
cookie-cutter sound-alike pop punk bands is their humor, which is noticeably
absent from the album aside from the artwork, some of the song choices,
and the forced laughter track at the end (which isn't really funny). Oh,
and uptight Christian music fans might be bothered by the lack of anything
overtly spiritual on the album.
All in all, you can't go wrong with a cover album. It's good fun
to listen to no matter what.
By Josh Spencer (11/21/98)
