Review Summary: Why, Tomas, why?!
I never quite understood the idea of remakes. Remember Gus Van Sant's 1998-version of Hitchcocks's
Psycho? That was awful. Now Streetlight Manifesto's remake of
Keasbey Nights may not be awful, but it was still a totally useless recording. Why? Because
Catch 22's original version was nearly perfect; all of the numerous instruments were played very well, none of the songs had any unnecessary sections and then-18 year-old Tomas Kalnoky's vocals were flawless. Besides, he meant what he sang, which is a significant factor as many of the songs seem to be very personal.
So on the remake the instruments are played alright, but compared to the original clearly not as well. I could find so many examples, like the intros of the title-track and "This One Goes Out to...". I don't exactly know why, but they honestly do not sound as great. It's a little ironic as well since the Streetlight Manifesto line-up was supposed to have more experience and talent (the only things that could have possibly made the remake worthwhile). But wait a minute, I simply cannot manage to hear any evidence of that. And some of the subtleties that gleamed on the original, like the lovely bass solo on "Walking Away", are either missing or replaced by something far less appealing. Not to forget that Kalnoky's vocal performance is not as strong, as he sounds just dull compared to the original. Besides even the back-up vocals seem to be less dynamic. All this concludes to the lack of youth's charm and musical revolt that made the authentic version a perfect ska
punk album. This damages especially songs like "Giving Up, Giving In" that are close to hardcore punk reminiscent of early
Descendents albums. OK, maybe the remake had obviously a higher production quality, but the original's was sufficient, and it actually made the record more idyllic as it was a bit "lo-fi".
One more thing. The original was closed by devoting shout-outs of the band members, which was a unique and fun idea. That's replaced instead by a lame idea; Kalnoky's robotic text-to-speech voice "explaining" his decision to record this album. Still leaves me asking; was it just to avoid a "typical money-making re-release adding nothing but new cover art", or was it simply because he hated the fact that his own precious
Keasbey Nights was credited to Catch 22, a band that had kicked him out and become a more or less terrible Pop-punk band playing his songs at their gigs.
