I’d like to start this review off by saying that I like Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. They’re fun, fast and furious and bring a smile to my face. I’m a big fan of punk covers and the majority of the Gimmes previous offerings have been spot on. But their latest batch of covers, dabbling in the realms of R&B, is quite possibly a step too far.
As far as super-groups go they don’t get much more super than Fat Mike, Chris Shiflet, Joey Cape, Spike Slawson and Dave Lagwagon and in the past 99% of what they have touched has turned to gold. ‘Uptown Girl’, ‘Dont Let The Sun Go Down On Me’, ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow’ – all classics. But for some reason the joke has worn a bit thin on ‘Take A Break’. It’s a record that, while fun at first, has very few high points and after a while just grates. Each song follows the same predictable formula – the harsh bass line, the buzzing guitars, backing ‘shouts’ from Mike and Joey and Spike’s inimitable vocal. There are skits from the likes of Black Flag interwoven into the songs and Spike’s trademark ‘yeahs’ are there too. But we’ve heard it all before.
Of course there are some genuinely great songs, just not as many as on ‘Have A Ball’ or ‘Are A Drag’, two novelty records which I can still listen to today without being bored. I just doubt three years down the line I’ll like this. ‘Where Do Broken Hearts Go’ is a solid opener, but the first real highlight is ‘End Of The Road’. Boyz II Men have never sounded so good, with Spike hitting every note perfectly. It follows a set pattern before speeding up for a hard hitting chorus. It never breaks out of the mould, but it is almost perfect stuff. ‘Nothing Compares “U’ is fantastic, pushing the original Sinead O’Connor version and Stevie Wonder’s ‘Isn’t She Lovely’ is a perfect choice of cover. Even R Kelly’s ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ and the Jackson 5s ‘I’ll Be There’ are highly impressive.
But unlike the other records for every cracker there’s a duffer. ‘Hello’ is mediocre and ‘Crazy’ is almost a routine cover with the distortion pedal firmly flat to the floor. ‘Mona Lisa’ and ‘Natural Woman’ aren’t overly impressive either with both tracks lacking in speed. It’s somthing that’s noticeable for the album on the whole as there’s not one song that really breaks the shackles and has the band working up a sweat. It’s all a bit, well, safe.
The Gimmes have very little integrity anyway but this is a record that just doesn’t have any staying power at all. Good fun for parties or for short blasts, but as an entire record it falls short of their previous records. Their best songs have been classic pop songs, maybe they should just cover Britney, Justin et al and call it a day…
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Paul