Search - Various Artists :: Vol. 2-Punk Goes Pop

Punk Goes...Anywhere You Want It To Go

J. Wactor | Tucson, AZ | 03/22/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Every "Punk Goes..." compilation will have dozens of naysayers who will complain about the invalid nature of these releases. These compilations face a double-edged sword; either artists are not `punk' enough or the cover songs are not `pop' or `crunk' enough. Fearless Records places these compilations on the chopping blocks with each release, but the simple fact of the matter is they are not going to change the title of their series to be intensely precise about their composition (Post-Hardcore Goes Power Balad anyone?). Fearless releases these records by corroborating with any alternative band they can manage to pull into their studios to record cover songs. As a result you get an equal amount of hits (Punk Goes Crunk) as you do misses (Punk Goes 80s). The question for the majority of us is: Is this CD the former or the latter?



Punk Goes Pop 2 is decent; it starts and finishes solidly but mostly drags in the middle. I'll definitely throw some of these covers onto my playlist, but you won't find me listening to the entire album again anytime soon. Buy the songs you like on this album individually. If you still are committed to purchasing CDs (like me), a small handful of songs are worth the $10 commitment.



That being said, I will give you a comprehensive review that will help you determine if this release could be to your liking. If you want a summary of this breakdown, this compilation can be broken down like this: 3 Post-Hardcore covers, 4 Alt. Rock covers, 2 Metalcore covers, 2 Synthpop covers, 2 Pop Punk covers, 1 Punk Rock cover.





1) "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around" - Alesana (Justin Timberlake cover) is a Post-Hardcore variation. Half singing, half screaming; Alesana does a good job bringing a harder sound to a good pop song. Excellent pop-to-post-hardcore transition. 5 STARS



2) "Apologize" - Silverstein (One Republic cover) is a Post-Hardcore cover variation. Mostly singing, some screaming; Silverstein has a more casual transition giving this pop rock song a harder edge with guitar riffs. Excellent cover by a band who could have slacked given the already rock nature of this song. 4 1/2 STARS



3) "...Baby One More Time" - August Burns Red (Britney Spears cover) is a Metalcore variation. From start to finish this song is screaming; I don't mind screaming, but I wasn't crazy about August Burns Red's cover of this bubblegum pop song. 2 STARS



4) "When I Grow Up" - Mayday Parade (The Pussycat Dolls cover) is a Pop Punk variation. All singing; Mayday Parade is an awesome band, but I believe the choice of song was poorly made. You can only increase the quality of a mediocre song so much...and you can't change awful lyrics. 3 STARS



5) "Over My Head" - A Day To Remember (The Fray cover) is a Post-Hardcore variation. Mostly singing, some screaming; A Day To Remember gave some serious edge to this song. Considering the original was already Alt. Rock, they gave it a serious facelift for a fresh, harder perspective of an excellent song. 5 STARS



6) "Smooth" - Escape The Fate (Santana cover) is a Rock variation. All singing; this cover sounds nearly the same as its latin-rock source. Same style, same tempo, different band, no originality. I'm glad most bands didn't follow this format. 1 STAR



7) "Ice Box" - There For Tomorrow (Omarion cover) is an Alt. Rock variation. All singing; this cover also barely differentiates from its original cover in tempo and sound. It's basically Omarion with a guitar in the background. 1 STAR



8) "Flagpole Sitta" - Chiodos (Harvey Danger cover) is an Alt. Rock variation. Mostly singing, some screaming; poor choice of song for a talented band. No matter what you do, this song is indie rock in nature and it's literally impossible to provide an original take on it. 2 STARS



9) "Beautiful Girls" - Bayside (Sean Kingston cover) is an Alt. Rock variation. All singing; Bayside is talented and subtly inserts their punk rock/alt. rock feel into this pop song. It's enjoyable but nothing exceptional. 3 1/2 STARS



10) "See You Again" - Breathe Carolina (Miley Cyrus cover) is a Synthpop variation. Mostly singing, some screaming; a heavy electronica feel with a bit of screamo. It feels incredibly out of place in this album, as its tempo/style is dramatically different from all other songs. 2 STARS



11) "Disturbia" - The Cab (Rihanna cover) is a Pop Punk variation. All singing; The Cab are gifted, and this mix is more than decent. Choosing a song generally sung by a female generally leads to an original cover. 4 STARS



12) "Toxic" - A Static Lullaby (Britney Spears cover) is a Melodic Metalcore variation. Mostly singing, some screaming; by far the best song on this CD. AMAZINGLY fresh take on this dance-pop song. To top it off the Enhanced CD has an excellent music video for it. This is your selling song Fearless, and you know it. 5 STARS



13) "Love Song" - Four Year Strong (Sara Bareilles cover) is a Punk Rock variation. If your complaint is that thus far no song is truly punk enough for you, this is your song. Four Year Strong covers this piano pop song in true punk spirit. 4 STARS



14) "I Kissed A Girl" - Attack Attack! (Katy Perry cover) is a Synthpop variation. Mostly singing, some screaming; I do not like this song, nor do I like Katy Perry, but Attack Attack! does provides decent presentation. They definitely add a fresh spin to an awful song, and I can recognize ingenuity. 3 STARS



"

Punk-Screamo Goes Pop

Flap Jackson | State Road, NC | 03/26/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"No matter which album in the 'Punk Goes...' series you pick up, you're sure to at least find one awesome cover, they've all had their flaws, but if you check out this release, I'd say it's the best one since "Punk Goes 80s." Due to current pop/punk climate, apparently Fearless was forced to pick a bunch of the artists out of the more hardcore genres, since that's seemingly where it's at. The result is at least one instance of screaming on every track, you'll also get a little pop/punk, a little electronica, and a mixture of all the above. But contrary to what you may find on the Amazon 30-second samples, it's not a start-to-finish screamo-fest.



Highlights Include:

"Apologize"

"Over My Head"

"Beautiful Girls"

"What Goes Around..."



Of those four songs, all but one contains at least one scream. I personally can handle a mixture of it, but scream to much, and my ears begin shutting down. But I question the addition of the screaming, for example, "Over My Head" in it's pop/rock mode is excellent, but then it starts adding in the screaming, and it darn-near ruins it. Without the screaming added, it's an otherwise excellent track. Same goes from the rest of the songs, and the only song where the hardcore elements work in the song's favor is in "What Goes Around..." "Apologize" is another one done excellently, keeping the screaming to a minimum, and it holds a sense of urgency that gives a great take to the song.



Amazingly, Chiodos does a good job, not great with the almost untouchable classic work of "Flagpole Sitta." The electronica elements of "See You Again" are pretty weird, and "Love Song" leaves a potential lot on the table.



In terms of quality, if you can tolerate screaming, then this automatically gets bumped up to a 4-star album, if you can't stand screamo, then you might downgrade it to a 1-star, so the happy medium, and my personal opinion gives it a 2.5-star effort. There's some good works, a lot left on the table, and a rather polarizing sound. So check out the songs before hand before purchasing, and I'd even get the tracks individually. Personally, I'd go for another round of the series in "Punk Goes 90s 2" or "Punk Goes 90s Alternative," but I might want to make sure the band line-up was a bit better, and have more pop/punk sounding songs."