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MXPX “ON THE COVER II” MUSIC REVIEW
Category:
Music Reviews
Posted:
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
 Artist: MxPx
Title: On the Cover II
Release Date: March 2009
Format: CD
Record Label: Tooth & Nail Records
MxPx releases an encore to their previous “Covers” cd with pop punk versions of 80’s hits.
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In 1995 MxPx released the first “On the Cover” cd, containing cover songs of some of their favorite songs. 15 years later, they have revisited the idea and put together another cd of some their favorite songs, this time almost entirely from the 80’s.
The allure of cover songs is a simple concept – take a band and their style of music you already like, putting their own spin on good songs you (probably) are already familiar with and/or like. Easy – right? Yep. In this case you have long-time pop punk rockers doing their favorite songs from their childhood faves.
Now, when you take that and up the ante a little bit and throw in a few extras, like guest artists, clever packaging, and a solid collection of songs, what you have it a really good cover cd.
Most of the songs on this cd work really well in the MxPx style, which actually makes a lot of sense considering that these are the songs that influenced the band to go in the direction that they did.
The cd starts with the classic “Punk Rock Girl” (Dead Milkmen) complete with a guest accordion solo from Flogging Molly’s Matt Hensley. This is a fairly close cover to the original, with a little bit of a faster tempo. I do miss the snotty and improvised vocals that the original has, but this is a solid effort.
We quickly move into U2’s “I Will Follow” which I actually like better than the original version (I’m not much of a U2 fan). This is one of the songs on the cd that MxPx really make their own and would fit comfortably in their own catalog of songs.
Next up is a dead-on cover of the Descendents’ “Suburban Home”, with a few lyrical twists to make it their own, and to paying homage to the original artist.
“500 Miles” is the next one up and slows the pace down (at least for about half the song) with this cover from The Proclaimers. They even manage to throw a cover within a cover and include some of Cheap Trick’s anthem “Surrender” near the end of this song. This one’s about half straight-cover and half MxPx doing their thing.
The Ramones classic political track “My Brain is Hanging Upside Down” is covered next – with even more poppiness and speed than the original – ending up with a really catchy version that sounds more like MxPx than Ramones. One of my personal favorites from the cd.
 Up next is a duo of related songs – first “Vacation” by the GoGo’s is covered followed by “Heaven is a Place on Earth” by former GoGo singer Belinda Carlisle. “Vacation” is a really good song on it’s own, and once it’s sped up, given some bouncy bass on the chorus, and the overall MxPx treatment, it sounds like it could be one of their own. Another favorite of mine from this cd. I’ve listened to this track a lot.
Agent M of Tsunami Bomb does a nice job dueting with Mike Herrera –replacing Belinda Carlisle’s vocals on “Heaven is a Place” on this track – but the passion that you could hear in the original doesn’t seem to be there.
Next is the widely covered “Kids in America” by Kim Wilde. I’ve never been a big fan of this song, and this version doesn’t turn the tides for me. I think they could’ve picked something that hasn’t been done so much.
One of the surprises for me is the choice to cover Poison’s “Fallen Angel”. No matter what, this still sounds like a Poison song with all the guitar fills and stuff – but it is definitely a punk-rocky version, complete with a guest guitar solo by the Descendents Stephen Egerton and guest vocals by Chiodos’ Craig Owen.
The obvious choice for the album was a cover of The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” which is a straight cover. The band’s been doing this song live for years, and it’s nice to have a studio version, complete with lead vocals by MxPx guitarist Tom W. It’s pretty standard fare though.
The Blue Hearts are a legendary Japanese punk band and the cover of their song “Linda Linda” is probably unfamiliar to most U.S. audiences. It has the sounds of an MxPx original, with a little bit of 50’s rock sensibilities. They do sing some of the song in Japanese, which is also a cool nod to the original.
The final song on the cd is the other surprise for me – a cover of Queen’s “Somebody to Love”. This song starts out very Queen-ish with soft piano, etc. and quickly moves into a punk rock jam, but then slows down a little bit later. Guest artists on this one too! Ethan Luck of Reliant K throws down a guitar solo and Bryce Avary of The Rocket Summer throws in some vocals and piano work for this track as well.
As far as cover cds go, this is one of the better ones I’ve come across. It does help that I’m already an MxPx fan, so their versions of some of these songs really bring them alive for me. There is a little bit of filler material here, but the good definitely outweighs the bad. The cover photo is also nice – the same pose and cover as the original, with an updated photo. Also, this comes with a nice booklet that has photos of the band dressed up as the bands that they are covering. Ten photos all in all - and a clever idea that makes the cd a little more fun and creates a nice, complete package.
-Ben T.
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