March 6th, 2009 
James Shotwell Band: Various
Album: Punk Goes Pop: Volume 2
Genre: Pop/Rock
Label:Fearless
Tracks:
1. What Goes Around… – Alesana
2. Apologize – Silverstein
3. …Baby One More Time – August Burns Red
4. When I Grow Up – Mayday Parade
5. Over My Head [Cable Car] – A Day To Remember
6. Smooth – Escape The Fate
7. Ice Box – There For Tomorrow
8. Flagpole Sitta – Chiodos
9. Beautiful Girls – Bayside
10. See You Again – Breathe Carolina
11. Disturbia – The Cab
12. Toxic – A Static Lullaby
13. Love Song – Four Year Strong
14. I Kissed A Girl – Attack Attack!
The wait is finally over! A new year is here and with it, the yearly Punk Goes… compilation from Fearless Records. This year, we return to what many hail as the best topic for these comps, top 40 covers. Since artists and what tracks they’re covering began to slip in 2008, the anticipation for this record has been growing and growing and now UTG has finally heard the record [quite a few times] and we must say, you better start counting your change or asking your parents for money because you’re going to need to get to the record store next week!
Compilations are hard to review because it’s different for every single track. So to save time and space, we’re going to dedicate a paragraph to highs and one to lows on the record. Alesana kicks things off is high fashion with their cover of Justin Timberlake’s, “What Goes Around…,” which has the obvious metal influence, but is still catchy and I think that’s the key with covers – you have to keep the heart/catchiness in tact. However, the most impressive tracks are given to us by A Day To Remember, who turn the Fray’s crooning, “Over My Head,” into a brocore fiesta and Escape The Fate, who breathe fresh life into the well overplayed Santana classic, “Smooth.” Along with these true standouts, “Apologize,” is given the edge Timbaland couldn’t by our Canadian friends in Silverstein, and Craig Owens and Chiodos turn the once low-fi anthem, “Flagpole Sitta,” into a new scene sensation as only they can. I was going to mention Bayside’s beautifulky reworked, “Beautiful Girls,” as one of the best on the record, but out of all the tracks to choose, they pick the one that references suicide about 100x? Come on Bayside, expand. I love you and always will, but seriously guys, throw us a curveball once in awhile.
Now onto the downside of the record. I can’t say that there’s much to tear down, but something must be said about a few of these tracks. For starters, August Burns Red completely overworks their metal version of, “…Baby One More Time.” It’s just too different to even recognize at most points. In all actuality, that’s the only track I, or anyone else thought was truly destroyed, a lot of our problems came with way too unoriginal covers. The perpetrators? Four Year Strong, Mayday Parade, and Breathe Carolina who, though making equally catchy versions of the original songs, do nothing to make the tracks their own. Most keep the same time, rhytmn and all other facets of the original tracks in tact. That’s not a true cover. They never make it their own and that’s just uninspiring. Finally, Attack Attack! and do a wonderful job of covering, “I Kissed a Girl,” but it’s a track that’s been floating around for months now. It isn’t original to the comp and feels very overdone already and the actual compilation isn’t even out yet. Also, it’s such a new song to cover that I feel we just got away from it so there’s no reason to bring it back into my life as of yet [same goes with The Cab’s, “Disturbia.” Now like I said, it’s a good cover, but come on Fearless, give us something we haven’t heard.
In the end however, there is no denying the appeal and catchiness of Punk Goes Pop Volume 2. Aside from the August Burns Red track [sorry, I can’t let it go yet], the entire disc is filled with golden covers of songs you may have not wanted to admit you enjoyed until now. The variety of styles helps to keep it fresh and the production quality, for the most part, is unrivaled. I love this series and this may just be the best one yet. Keep em coming Fearless, we want more!
*Written By: James Shotwell*
Score: 8.5/10
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I agree with a lot of what you said (there’s another review floating around that seems way-off to me) but, I don’t see how people are leaving out A Static Lullaby’s “Toxic” cover?!
I absolutely love it and I listened to it dozens of times before the album actually came out. It’s definitely my favorite of the whole entire compilation.
August Burns Red’s “…Baby One More Time” isn’t too great, like you said. It seemed too overdone for me.
I was disappointed with Mayday Parade’s “When I Grow Up”. I love those guys and I expected it to be a lot better; it didn’t deviate enough from the original track, but I still think it was good.
Huge props to Chiodos, Alesana, Escape The Fate, and of course, A Static Lullaby. Overall, the compilation was really good. I’d give the same exact 8.5/10 score for it.
<3