3 out of 5

Label: Victory Records, Pentimento

Producer: Tomas Kalnoky

Ah, covers albums.  They’re rarely going to be perfect, even when songs have been entirely reconstructed anew, but they can come damn close.  There’s no doubt that Kalnoky loves the songs on 99, and his production coupled with all of his exteeeemely talented musicians definitely knock these reproductions out of the park – they must be a blast to hear / see live, especially if you dig the original, because the Streethlight version is inevitably like fifty times faster.  But while I can’t get enough of hearing the guitar solo of Radiohead’s “Just” stuttered through a horn, there’s an element of disconnect behind a lot of the tracks, that they’re more just fun to play than there’s some kind of direct connection between the identity of the band and these songs.  Compare this to Firewater’s covers album, which feels legit, like each song belongs on there.  Kalnoky’s liner notes, which detail his love for all the bands or songs featured, show a love for music and the heart behind his works in general, but this is isolated from looking at it as an “album” (as in, to me, a feeling from start to finish that a group or an artist hopes to achieve) and truly just a connection of songs we dig and so we decided to play them.

Sounds great, you’ll tap your toes, but it also just makes you yearn for some new fast-spat Kalnoky lyrics set to his long and winding and fast and pummeling ska punk compositions.