MxPx

Item: On The Cover
Author: Todd Brown

On The Cover

(1995)

Reviewed by Todd Brown

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Label Tooth & Nail RecordsThe LighthouseJanuary 1996

new wave pop punk punk skate punk

There is a moral to this EP:

Punk knows no bounds.

There is nowhere it cannot go. Synth pop, rock and roll, 80's new wave, rockabilly, piano ballads-nothing is out of reach. On this eight-song disc (there is a longer version on vinyl, available directly from Tooth & Nail), the members of MxPx take source material ranging from Keith Green to Joy Electric to Buddy Holly and recreate it, making it uniquely their own.

Those who may have expected MxPx to put together a project giving a nod to their punk peers and forebears are in for quite a surprise. Only two of the eight songs have vaguely punk origins, one being the Altar Boys' "You Found Me," the other being "No Brain" which was written by MxPx's Mike for an earlier band. Instead we get-well, the kitchen sink.

The danger in playing covers lies in falling into one of two traps: either foregoing their own sound to cater to the original song; or, on the other extreme, they risk butchering the original beyond recognition. Somehow, the boys of MxPx have managed the near impossible in successfully wedding their own style to this diverse collection of music. The pop punk never overwhelms the original melodies, nor does it sacrifice its own energy. The two best examples of this can be found in the covers of Bryan Adams' "Summer Of '69" and A-Ha's "Take On Me." "Summer Of '69" may be safely compared to Adams on speed. The song is left as-is, just sped-up, distorted, then sped-up again. It's hysterically fun. The cover of A-Ha is nothing short of brilliant, with all of the melodies of the slick, synth-oriented original somehow preserved in the vocals and buzzing guitars. Similar things could be said about every track. The combinations are very, very strange, but they always work and work well.

It takes no small amount of courage for a young band to put out a project made up entirely of cover songs. This may not be quite on the scale of The The doing a disc of Hank Williams covers, but it's pretty close. For the simple fact that they've done it, and done it well, I offer my congratulations to MxPx. In response to the bizarre collection of songs, I simply laugh out loud. Somehow, I don't think they'd be upset with that response.