Punk's great strengths are energy and attitude - usually the weak point is songwriting because the genre has been mined down to the core after almost 30 years and it was never a motherlode of tunefulness in the first place. Thus the appeal of punk covers: you get the energy and the attitude AND recognizable tunes you can sing along with, either out of empathy or derision. A dirty little secret is that almost EVERY song with a recognizable tune sounds great a la punk, and the noise and attitude make even the sappiest nonsense sound, um, cool.
Which brings us to the gooey goodness of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, punk's snappiest-dressing cover band and a delight at twice the price. A West Coast sometime-supergroup with Spike Slawson on vocals, NoFX's Fat Mike on bass, Lagwagon drummer Dave Raun, guitarists Joey Cape (Ataris, Bad Astronaut, Lagwagon) and Jake Jackson, the Gimmes take on R&B tunes this time out (note hilarious liner notes) on the uproarious Take a Break.
It's pretty damn hard to maintain a broken heart when the Gimmes rip through Whitney Houston's "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?" - the song's genuine pathos undiminished by the punky reading. You will marvel at effectiveness of their double-time backbeat NoFX-ish romp through Bill Wither's "Ain't No Sunshine": a great song is a great song. As much as I love Sinead's "Nothing Compares 2 U," the punk-ska take here is nearly its equal.
Raun's inspired, tight tom-tom figure sets up a great, tough groove for Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely," and Jackson's ukulele sets an island mood for R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly" ("Tony couldn't fly, Tony DIED," for you Jim Carroll fans) before we break into traditional precision speed-punk at the halfway mark.
A note-for-note lifting of the intro to the Cars' "Just What I Needed" brilliantly opens the Jackson Five's "I'll Be There" (one of Michael's sweetest vocals - the fact that I can never again just LISTEN to a Jackson song makes me extremely resentful - MJ you shithead), which falters a bit when the buzzing bass overwhelms the rest of the production - but hey, no one's perfect.
Who would have thought a jug and an accordion would make such an apt setting for Nat King Cole's sublime "Mona Lisa"? Nice straight vocal by Spike as well. And who can deny that singing the song might indeed make our man Spike feel like a "Natural Woman"?
It's all just swell, but my fave of the bunch not only makes for great listening but also forced a reevaluation of the song's writer: "Hello" and Lionel Richie. Yes, Richie's "Hello" reveals a great, sophisticated melody in the driving punk treatment the Gimmes give it. Before we move on to Lionel, I must reiterate that Take A Break is a total winner. Rock it out, baby brother.
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Article comments
1 - Tom Johnson
I've heard Me First/et al. several times from friends and just couldn't get past the schtick. It was just too by-the-numbers. Every song title I read I could immediately hear the punk'd version of in my head, and upon hearing the songs they were exactly as I imagined they would be. I mean, it's punk, so there's only a very few variants of that worn-out genre they could choose from . . . but still, I just thought it was too much of a gimmick. It's just too easy for me to stay interested. Give me the Constantines' take on the Talking Heads' classic "Thank You For Sending Me An Angel" anyday. Who cares if it's not punk - it's faithful and yet original at the same time.
Your Lionel Ritchie review made me think of the line in High Fidelity delivered by Jack Black: "is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, is it better to burn out or fade away?" Make of that what you will.
2 - Eric Olsen
Dude, I'm not saying I would actually listen to his newer stuff, just talking up the reissues and the collection.
I think the Gimmes transcend the schtick - makes raspberry noise.
3 - Mark Saleski
the blind girl in the "Hello" video was hokey...but she was hot!
and the Gimme Gimme's are too much fun to ignore. c'mon, their website uses a spinning martini glass as a wait-cursor!
4 - Eric Olsen
And I freely confess to having been plied with the coolest of swag: a Me First shot glass set. Not that my approval could ever be bought.
5 - ParticleMan
Me First rocks. They may be totally predictable, but are oh-so-fun to listen to. Quite possibly one of the bast bands for when you're stuck in traffic.
My personal fav is their version of "Runaway."
And hey, does Blogcritics not have a rock category for punk?
6 - Eric Olsen
It's all "alternative rock," my friend.
7 - ParticleMan
All "alternative" rock? I disagree, if only because the term "alternative" is so vague and broad that it now means next to nothing.
If blogcritics has a seperate category for "Indie Rock," i think Punk Rock is no less deserving.
If i were to review a Minor Threat album, i'd have a hard time classifying it as "alternative." I may be picking nits, but calling a band like Me First alternative makes me shiver.
8 - Eric Olsen
I have no problem with punk rock as a viable category, the problem is a year and a half's worth of posts already categorized under the, I agree, very broad alternative rock. I have zero time or desire to go back and recategorize all the punk records currently under alternative rock, if you see what I mean. Actually, it makes it much easier that alternative rock IS very broad because then you don't have to make a lot of fine distinctions.
9 - ParticleMan
Gotcha. A year and a half's worth of posts is a lot to wade through. But I still think it couldn't hurt to add the category...
10 - Al Barger
Yeah, no need for you to worry about that Eric. Just add the "punk" category for future reference, and any authors who want can go back and edit old entries to include it. No big effort needed on your part.
11 - Mark Saleski
ok, so this morning i brought in the Gimme Gimme's "Blow In The Wind".
their version of Sloop John B, which starts off as the Ramones "Teenage Lobotomy" is effin' brilliant.
easily-amused-on-friday-mark
12 - Eric Olsen
I like that one too, Mark - they're good, funny AND have style - a nice combo.
Music: Punk Rock subcategory added - your wishes are my command.
13 - Craig Lyndall
My favorite MFATGG record is the one where they do the broadway tunes. I love their version of the Phantom of the Opera. Over the Rainbow and The Rainbow Connection are also really good.
This is an odd article for me because I was raised on Lionel Richie. I have memories of being 5 or 6 years old, zipping around suburban Ohio with my dad in his Prelude listening to the Lionel Richie album that had the "Whoa Whoa" song on it. Turns out that song was really called "You Are" from the 1982 album. Then we followed that up by listening to the "haircut album" a couple years later. If you look at the covers for the 1982 album and then the cover for the other one, you will see why we called it the haircut album.
Just to think that two random things like Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and Lionel Richie can hold this much interest for me is ridiculous.
14 - Eric Olsen
I'm glad it held your attention, and if you're "ridiculous" what am I? I had to write it.
15 - Craig Lyndall
Didn't mean to call you ridiculous, but the breadth of music that I (and many other people) can listen to is always amazing to me. I can listen to death metal and Hey Ya! by Outkast. This shouldn't be normal, but similar opposites exist in many other music collections, I am sure.
16 - Eric Olsen
Just kidding around, dude, the oddness of the juxtaposition was why I thought of it in the first place.