Album Review

Various Artists – Pop Goes Pop 5

• 26th Oct 2012

Compilation albums are very tough to pull off. They’re a mixed bag of various artists, each with their own creative direction. And, in this instance, each with their own vision of what is an already established song. Covers themselves can be tough to pull off in an acceptable and enjoyable manner.

And so, I’m left with the task of reviewing Fearless Record’s latest Punk Goes… edition. Punk Goes Pop 5 sees various acts from the label banding together to churn out some chart friendly covers. And the result is, well, mixed. This album has some great and original covers. Hand in hand with that, it has some not so great tracks on there as well.

Starting with what works well, we can go to the first track. Memphis May Fire take on Grenade, made famous by Bruno Mars. These post-hardcore boys from the states are being named as on of the next major acts in metal, and their cover shows it. Matty Mullins’ voice is complimented by the synths and technics laden with guitar and drum.

Other stand out tracks include Mayday Parade’s version of Somebody That I Used To Know, We Came As Romans tackling Glad You Came and Craig Owens’ solemn attempt of Paradise. These are only bested by The Maine’s great laid back version of Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Want To Have Fun. The Maine are joined by Adam Lazzara of Taking Back Sunday, who brings his experience and wisdom to the track.

But, there are the other tracks to be taken care of. While some are not terrible (see Forever The Sickest Kids take a crack at We Found Love), some left me wondering about their inclusion. Upon This Dawning and Like Moths To Flames brought Call Me Maybe and Some Nights to he table, respectively. Sadly, their brand of metalcore was lost on both tracks, the latter sounding like it was thrown together with little effort.

Tyler Carter’s clean vocals on Boyfriend are not enough to save Issues cover of the song, while the songs Payphone and Mercy are, for lack of a better term, not enjoyable. An album like this should be enjoyable from start to finish, but some songs just let the side down.

The silver lining at the end of the album is Secrets cover of Ass Back Home, which I a plus. To end this album on a bad note may see the listener not go back to it. But this reminds the listener of the good tracks laden within, and amongst the weaker ones. Albums like this are always tough to pull off. Fearless Records are nearly there.

Tracklist:
Grenade – Memphis May Fire (Bruno Mars)
Call Me Maybe – Upon This Dawning (Carly Rae Jepsen)
Somebody That I Used To Know – Mayday Parade feat. Vic Fuentes (Gotye feat. Kimbra)
Glad You Came – We Came As Romans (The Wanted)
Some Nights – Like Moths To Flames (fun.)
Billie Jean – Breathe Carolina (Michael Jackson)
We Found Love – Forever The Sickest Kids (Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris)
Boyfriend – Issues (Justin Bieber)
Girls Just Want To Have Fun – The Maine feat. Adam Lazarra (Cyndi Lauper)
Payphone – Crown The Empire (Maroon Five)
Paradise – Craig Owens (Coldplay)
Mercy – The Word Alive (Kanye West feat. Big Sean, Pusha T and 2 Chainz)
Ass Back Home – Secrets (Gym Class Heroes feat. Neon Hitch)

Download: Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Grenade, Somebody That I Used To Know