wiggydsadist

I'm trying something new with my blog.. bear with me.. I just recently decided that I don't have a big enough ego to keep writing about myself.. that, I think I'll leave to microblogging.. hello, Twitter page..

also, I've been meaning to get back to writing reviews, which I used to do a lot back in high school.. look at me, writing with a purpose once again..

anyway, here goes..

Guilt By Association, Vol. 1

The Album: released on September 4, 2007 by Engine Room Recordings, Guilt By Association is a compilation of well-known pop songs covered by various independent musicians..

The Good: covering pop songs is not that uncommon a thing here in the Philippines--putting things lightly...marvel at my skill for understatement--but our local covers, more often than not, end up being inferior carbon copies of their repective original versions.. those belong in their own noontime-variety-show turf and should stay there...that's right, Velasquez, I'm talking to you!

this here compilation, however, contains covers that couldn't sound more different from their original counterparts.. like Casey Shea's slow and sensitive cover of "Chop Suey" by System of a Down.. or Devendra Banhart's playful bossa nova rendition of "Don't Look Back In Anger" by Oasis..

other covers add new depth to the originals.. such as Shania Twain's "From This Moment On" covered by Mark Mulcahy (who was in Polaris, the band that did the unforgettable opening credits song of The Adventures of Pete & Pete...fun fact), which sounds more like a somber requiem to a past love than a namby-pamby vow to start life anew.. Luna (whose bassist, Britta Phillips, was the singing voice of Jem from the 80s cartoon of the same name...fun fact) adds an undertone of desperation and attachment that's all too unhealthy to Paula Abdul's ultimatum, "Straight Up"..

my favorite track of the album, however, is the a cappella/spoken word cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" by Petra Haden.. among the songs featured in the compilation, this one is probably the most covered prior to the album's release.. not that it's a bad thing...although the fact that it was definitely was a factor in my predisposition to hate it.. but this rendition was clearly the most peculiar and most creative of all the other "Don't Stop Believing" covers.. I love the nod to Wilson Phillips at the end, too..

The Bad: unfortunately, the album's strength is also its weakness.. in the artists' efforts to distance the covers from their original counterparts, most of the covers end up sorta sounding alike.. spoiler alert: they're all basically slower, lazy, folksy versions of the originals.. that being said, I thought this was a compilation album.. where's the variety? it's like these guys were shopping and got stuck in the folk section..

some tracks, such as Goat's cover of "Sugar, We're Goin Down," The Mooney Suzuki's cover of Cher's "Just Like Jesse James," and Will Oldham's cover of "Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)," zip right by without leaving so much as a footprint.. and I'd steer clear of the High School Musical cover by Porter Block.. you'll find yourself actually liking the original version..

then there's Mike Watt's cover of Blue Öyster Cult's "Burnin' For You," which makes for an awkward closing track to the compilation as he adds absolutely nothing to the song..

The Verdict: 6/10

*the album is not in circulation in the country at the moment, but you can order or download a copy at Amazon.com.. or better yet, get it off iTunes to get a bonus track: Porter Block's cover of "Careless Whisper" by Wham!

Guilt By Association, Vol. 2

The Album: once again from Engine Room Recordings comes a new compilation of guilty pleasure pop songs covered by various independent artists.. Guilt By Association, Vol. 2 was released on November 18, 2008..

The Good: this album is certainly lighter and a lot more fun than the first one, and it succeeds in everything its predecessor failed in.. it's not just folk music this time, the covers are more cleverly crafted, and it emphasizes on why these guilty pleasures are so pleasurable in the first place..

right from the very first track, the album hooks you with My Brightest Diamond's "shoegaze-cabaret" cover of "Tainted Love".. and it keeps on bombarding the listener with cover after cover without stopping over at the filler corner.. check out The Bloodsugars actually making a Laura Branigan song sound cool and matt pond PA making a My Chemical Romance song actually bearable (apologies to the fans)..

the brightest star in this stellar lineup of tracks is Lowry's cover of Toto's "Africa".. there is absolutely no one in the world who will not like this version.. it's bouncy, it's trippy, it's got layer upon layers of sounds that amalgamate into this beautifully chaotic, fun, five-minute ride..

The Bad: the one bad thing about this compilation is the flexibility of the term "guilty pleasure".. one person's so-called "guilty pleasure" may very well be another person's choice noise.. I haven't even heard of N-Trance's "Set You Free" until Frightened Rabbit did a cover of it here..

The Verdict: 8.75/10

*this album is currently unavailable in the country as well, but you can purchase or download a copy on Amazon.com.. or on iTunes where you can also get a bonus track not included in the actual album: "The Lady in Red" by Chris de Burgh as covered by The Bloodsugars..