Vegas jeers

Can it seriously be possible for a once well-known band to transform into the coolest cover band at the bar on Saturday nights? Well, evidently Everclear seems to pound into that adjustment as their latest release The Vegas Years proves to be just that. Vegas is a train wreck of 16 tracks that can keep the attention of a middle-school student who thinks it’s cool and an influence toward his rebellious phase against life.

Far from their success in the mid-’90s, Capitol Records’ release of The Vegas Years is a tribute album to all the musicians that once inspired the band to perform. Unfortunately, though, each cover is just a temptation to hit the skip button. Their bland punk-rock style cannot fit each song they’ve chosen to reinterpret. Tracks such as “Pocahontas,” “Rich Girl” and “Bad Connection” serve no purpose for a new version and the band’s heavily repetitive melodramatic punk sound is bound to have any listener throw the disc out the window.

Then bubbles the question of why Everclear decides to create their own versions of Tom Petty’s “American Girl,” The Go-Go’s “Our Lips Our Sealed (Remix)” and Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309 (Jenny).” Granted, the complete respect anyone has for Petty is amazing and by his latest performance during the Super Bowl halftime show, he still has the gift, but by the end of the track when Art Alexakis breaks out into full scream, the song lays in shambles.

If there is any limelight for Vegas, it is in fact a rather childish take on the once popular song by Woody Guthrie “This Land is Your Land.” The cover not only brings back memories of first grade, but it also places the brighter side to any person’s long night at the clubs. It is this song that made a lasting mark in elementary school and just furthers our reluctance to let go of the Baby Bottle Pop circa 1995.

You want original music? Look elsewhere. The Vegas Years is not for you. But if you want trashy music that would only sound great with a drink in one hand and a Baby Bottle Pop in another, then this album literally screams for you.