Carry the Torch: A Tribute to Kid Dynamite

OK, let’s be frank; not many people, I assume, buy tribute records because they’re a huge fan of the artist being paid tribute. You buy the album because you like the bands (at least some of them) who are performing the covers, and maybe enjoy some of the originals. That’s more or less what brings me to this record. Prior to placing the order for this album, I was only familiar with Kid Dynamite’s Shorter, Faster, Louder, which I enjoyed. But I saw Broadway Calls and the Ergs! on the line-up of artists taking part, and I was sold.

And so now that this long-awaited 2xLP is available to the public, how does it stack up?

Well, the covers are all pretty competent. And they all sound pretty faithful to the original material. Kid Dynamite’s brand of hardcore is more often than not replicated exactly, the only real difference being that the singing here is not provided by Jason Shevchuk. There are a few moments where the artist goes acoustic on us, which I despite the competency of the performances and honestly, taken on their own, are damn fine songs, are more disruptive to the flow of the album than anything else.

As a result of the songs sounding so close to the originals, nothing on here particularly stands out any more than it did on the original KD album it came from. In fact, the lack of Shevchuk brings a couple of the songs down, simply because there’s no reinterpretation aside from a different singer. “Copout,” here performed by Endgame, still rules, but it rules a little harder when Jason sings it.

So, I guess what it comes down to is how big a Kid Dynamite fan you are. If you really love the band, the odds that you want to hear 39 recordings of their songs by artists who put little to no individual spin on them is pretty low, I’d say. If you’re not a big Kid Dynamite fan, but see a bunch of bands on here you like, give it a spin. If nothing else, hopefully it will inspire you to check out the Kid Dynamite discography.

We'll Inherit the Earth: A Tribute to the Replacements

Here we go, yet another tribute album. As per usual, the regular disclaimer about tribute records applies: the odds are, over the course of this disc, you will be filled with an uncontrollable urge to break out the original artist’s albums. In this case, you will most likely reach for your worn copy of Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash.

That’s not to say this is a bad effort, by any means. The album, like any good tribute album, emphasizes and throws into sharp focus the strength of the original material; despite being delivered in different (in some cases, radically so) styles, some with more success than others, the songs are still great.

The first thing a listener will notice is that the songs here are almost all contributed by punk bands. Pop-punk bands, more often than not, and that makes sense, since if you were to try to find a genre that was most influenced by the Replacements (in particular, their early material), it would be pop-punk. Or at least, those bands who don’t feel a need to be slavishly devoted to retreading the musical blueprint of Rocket to Russia.

Generally, the takes on the band’s material here is pretty reverent. There are a couple of contributions that venture more into the country territory (“If Only You Were Lonely” sticks out in my mind), and it all works fairly well. And it’s amazing how some of the songs fit the bands they’re being covered by, which I guess shows off how ‘Mats-influenced those bands are. For a specific example, check out Off With Their Heads’ take on “Goddamn Job.” It reminds the listener of the lead song on their Hospitals album, “Die Today.”

Depending on your tolerance for covers of a single artist, the 23 songs contained here may turn out to be a bit over long. But overall, the album is a great tribute to a seminal band, who deserve all the accolades they can get.

The Ergs! - Upstairs/Downstairs

The Ergs!, hailing from New Jersey, were one of the best pop-punk bands to arise in the 2000′s. After dropping two full-length albums, and a whole boatload of amazing EPs and 7″ records, they called it quits in late 2008. It was a pretty devastating blow to fans of quality pop-punk ’round the world.

Thankfully, as fans we still have their music. Their two LPs, Dorkrockcorkrod and Upstairs/Downstairs, as well as the Jersey’s Best Prancers EP and b-sides collection Hindsight is 20/20 My Friend, are essential listening for anyone who has an interest in what’s been happening in punk rock in this new millennium.

The album features the tight songwriting and competent playing that the band has perfected through heavy touring and numerous recordings. The subjects range from Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series of books, girls, the album Boston, MA by the Del Fuegos, bikes, girls, heartbreak, and Miles Davis. Many of the songs featured here are very short; “Boston, Mass” clocks in at about 45 seconds, and only three of the album’s songs breach the three-minute mark.

As usual, Mikey Erg (aka Mike Yannich) takes the bulk of vocals, and does an excellent job. Jeff shines on cuts like “Bike Shoppe,” and “Girls of the Market Square.” The album shows a bit more diversity, musically, than Dorkrock did; the aforementioned “Market Square” starts out with a bit of a groove, and “Stinking of Whiskey Blues” is a down-n-out country song, complete with slide guitar. The “single,” “Books About Miles Davis,” spends most of its time without drums, just featuring a strummed guitar as Mike sings, building up to a full-band maelstrom for about 20 seconds.

Then, of course, there’s the album’s closing song, the title track. It’s 18 minutes long. The first couple minutes are a pretty straightforward midtempo rocker, but after that 3 minute mark, it turns into a long, long jam for the guys. It’s not surprising that these three music nerds might want to break out of the rather rigid pop-punk framework, and this song accomplishes that in its way. Not quite a mix CD song, though.

As the final LP from the Ergs!, Upstairs/Downstairs is kind of the beginning of the end. But it’s a great send-off from a band that spent 7 years producing some of the best pop-punk around, and is an excellent purchase for any punk fan.

The Ergs! - Hindsight is 20/20, My Friend

2008 is a sad year for fans of pop-punk the whole world over. Beloved New Jersey act, the Ergs!, have announced that, following their previous touring commitments and a trio of hometown shows, they will hang it up at the end of the year. The primary reason is that bassist Jeff would be leaving, and the Ergs! wouldn’t be the same if any member(s) of the Near-Sighted Three were to be replaced.

And so on this dismal note, the band leaves its fans with Hindsight is 20/20, My Friend as a farewell. The album is a 33-song compilation of their contributions to various comp albums and 7″ splits.

Now, few things could make me, a rabid Ergs! fan, as pleased as receiving a disc containing thirty-plus tracks from a band I love. And a lot of these songs I’d never heard before; the original records or CD-Rs had long gone out of print. So for many fans, this is the first time they’ll get to hear tunes like “Every Romance Language” or “Feeling Minneapolis.” Collector nerds probably have all of this stuff, but for the rest of us, this is handy. And it’s coming to vinyl (…at some point), for the vinyl purists remaining out there.

The disc is obviously not as consistent as their studio album, but it does present an excellent example of how high-quality the music they put out consistently was. The songs are not presented in any obvious order, and they really could fit in their catalog just about anywhere. One could take that as saying the band never really progressed its sound, but the Ergs! are the kind of pop-punk revivalists who came out of the game fully-formed and knowing exactly what kind of music they wanted to play (see also: Teenage Bottlerocket). And within that seemingly limited framework, the Ergs! managed to work in their jazz-nerd leanings and other loves outside of punk (see: the single version of “Books About Miles Davis,” and their cover of “Linus & Lucy”). The Ergs! managed to create a diverse and distinctive-sounding catalog, with the b-sides and singles cuts being just as good, if not sometimes better than their album tracks; I would have put “Introducing Morrissey” on an Upstairs/Downstairs, personally.

For fans of the band, buying this album is a no-brainer. The only real choice is whether to get it on CD, or wait for the forthcoming vinyl. For pop-punk fans, or people beginning to explore pop-punk outside of what the mainstream managed to force-feed you, this is a great place to start getting familiar with one of the greats of the genre.

Album Rating: 4.5 stars

Break-up Rating: -5 stars. Don’t do it, Jeff!