Review Summary: Although none of these bands can really be considered "punk", Punk Goes Pop Vol. 2 is an overall enjoyable collection of pop covers.
I have to say that I’m a big fan of the “Punk Goes…” series, mostly because they’ve always been fun listens. While the first couple of albums of the series have traditionally been punk bands offering covers, the series has since evolved into a greater collection of post-hardcore/pop punk bands contributing covers. Every album in the series has always provided a great handful of covers, though, and
Punk Goes Pop Vol. 2 is no different, but which on the collection are hits and which are misses?
Overall,
Punk Goes Pop Vol. 2 features plenty of enjoyable, successful covers, in that they capture the feel of the original song and just put a new spin on it. Some songs, like August Burn Red’s “Baby One More Time” and Attack Attack!’s “I Kissed a Girl” are more humourous and tongue-in-cheek, while Silverstein’s “Apologize”, A Day To Remember’s “Over My Head (Cable Car)”, There For Tomorrow’s “Ice Box” and The Cab’s “Disturbia” are valiant efforts to re-imagine some catchy pop songs into a new genre. You may not prefer any of these covers to the originals, but they are all quality efforts that deserve a listen or two.
And although there are plenty of strong efforts, there are almost an equal number of questionable tracks on
Punk Goes Pop Vol. 2. Some songs, like Chiodos’s “Flagpole Sitta” and Escape the Fate’s “Smooth” are decent covers, but I feel like the original songs weren’t that great to begin with. Breath Carolina’s cover of “See You Again” is more of a straight-up cover that offers nothing new, while Bayside’s “Beautiful Girls” and Four Year Strong’s “Love Song” don’t really translate into enjoyable covers. Finally, Alesana has the honour of having the worst cover on the album for their complete and total butchering of “What Goes Around”. You may find some enjoyment in any of the above, but overall, they prove to be the least enjoyable out of all the covers.
But the beauty of listening to a cover album is that you’ll most likely find some songs that you love way more than the original effort. For me, Mayday Parade’s “When I Grow Up” and Static Lullaby’s “Toxic” take the cake as being fantastic songs of their own: Mayday Parade takes the awful Pussycat Doll song “When I Grow Up” and spins it into a catchy pop-punk song, while Static Lullaby takes Britney Spears’s already great “Toxic” and gives it their own metalcore twist. While the rest of the album is more or less comprised of leisurely distractions, these two songs stack up stack up as being great efforts that surpass the quality of the originals.
Punk Goes Pop Vol. 2, then, proves to be another successful entry into the “Punk Goes…” series. While it’s hard to really fully enjoy a cover album, there are more then enough quality covers here to check out, and it’s more than likely that you’ll find a song or two that you’ll add to your collection. Of course, the amount of enjoyment you find here depends on your existing opinion of the bands and songs on the album, but overall, there enough fun, quality covers here to make a listen worthwhile.
