Warped Tour 2002, Various Artists
Yep, it's that time of the year again where the Warped Tour franchise comes out to play. And what better an accessory than a new compilation cd for all those unlucky people (myself included) that cannot make any of the dates on the tour. The 2002 version is by far the best yet, with two cds and 50 tracks from a whole variety of punk bands. And everything is covered, whether you like ska (Mighty Mighty Bosstones), hardcore (Avenged Sevenfold, Breathe In), old-skool (Dag Nasty, The Damned) or pop-punk (almost everything else). In short, this is perhaps one of the greatest compilation cds ever released.
Warped Tour 2002 features something for absolutely everybody, whether it's live tracks, new songs or unreleased efforts. Where else are you going to find a brand spanking new Lagwagon track, not set to see the light of day until spring 2003?
Over two cds and with 50 songs, there's a lot to get through, and like any sampler there's always the complete dross to skip through. The Swingin Utters, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Murphy's Law and One Man Army let the side down slightly, but in truth the good songs far outweigh the bad. NOFX kick things off with 'Three On Speed', a classic way to start proceedings. Pop-punk then takes over with tracks from Sum41, Midtown and Good Charlotte, before the scuzzier The Casualties and The Lawrence Arms take over.
Finch weigh in with 'Untitled', Antifreeze with 'She'll Learn' and Glassjaw throw up newie 'Cosmopolitan Blood Loss' which proves that their new record is likely to be just as good as their first. Tsunami Bomb and No Use For A Name provide solid tracks, whilst Slick Shoes and Divit provide more 'new-skool' pop-punk. Taking Back Sunday, Reach The Sky and From Autumn To Ashes provide a more post-hardcore respite before Ozma end proceedings with the quirky 'No One Needs To Know'.
CD 2 kicks off with 'Armageddon' by the brilliant Alkaline Trio before racing through an electic mix of tracks from the likes of Madcap, Flogging Molly and One Man Army. You want diversity? There's more of that here than you could shake a stick at. Autopilot Off - a band that I feel have constantly flattered to deceive - impress slightly with 'Nothing Frequency', before Thursday do what they know best by slashing and twisting their way through 'Cross Out The Eyes'. Their mates in The Movielife blast through 'Hand Grenade' before we reach the new Lagwagon song, 'Dinner And A Movie'. And blimey, it's a bit good...
Mi6 come over like ALL and the Descendents with the fantastic singalong 'Stupid Little Things', but it's the final eight tracks which are worth the $10 alone. The Used bust their guts through the magnificient 'Maybe Memories', before Dag Nasty provide the excellently catchy 'Ghosts', a real throwback track from a band that are seriously overlooked. Avenged Sevenfold thrash out some hardcore leanings before Name Taken provide some very poppy pop-punk with 'Sometime'. Look out for this lot, I have a feeling they may become rather big...
Death On Wednesday and Vendetta Red are two bands I'm not overly familiar with but I'll certainly be checking out more of them now, whilst Destruction Made Simple fly through the great '21 Year Plan'. But The Ataris steal the show, as usual, with their fantastic acoustic cover of ALL's 'Carnage', a track which fits like a glove and is a rather fitting end to a magnificent double cd.
If you only buy one compilation this year get Warped Tour 2002. If you buy two compilations this year, buy two copies of this in case you break one through overplaying it...
Paul.
