Cover records are a tricky business at best and yet I find myself drawn to them. I’m never sure if it is for the train wreck or the diamond in the rough. In this case, it was mostly just nondescript rehashings. For the most part, what is good on this record is what was good in the original recordings. Where AWOLNATION made a mark, it was generally a failure to understand the song in the first place (e.g., “Beds Are Burning”). Others stink of being pretentious. Look, we’re kitschy; we can cover a lousy Alan Parsons Project tune! Look, we’ve got real cred; we know a Fugazi song! Sure, the vocals on “Drive” are a little upgrade on Benjamin Orr and “Flagpole Sitta” was the one cover that stood on its own, but both are the kind of things that were once relegated to b-sides, not dim lights on an otherwise dull record.
Released: May 6, 2022