PopSyndicate.com

“This is something I’ve wanted to do probably since 1996 or’97” Art Alexakis, Everclear frontman, said of their new album, the Vegas Years.  The album is a compilation of covers, from Hall and Oats to Tom Petty with a little bit of Land of the Lost thrown in for good measure. The album title, according to Alexakis, refers to the tendency for washed up, aging musicians to turn up in Vegas and spend the rest of their days performing other people’s songs. The sentiment is bit tongue in cheek, and probably meant to ward off said inevitability for the band.

Alexakis describes the album as a “seriously, guitar-heavy rock-n-roll record”, but unless he considers all of Everclear’s albums to be seriously guitar-heavy rock-n-roll records, it’s just more of the same. They took a wide range of songs and styles, and somehow made them all sound like every other Everclear recording. From the way Everclear plays, you’d think that the Go-Go’s and Thin Lizzy were close contemporaries. It’s one thing to put a band’s stylistc spin on the covers (and honestly, who wants to listen to an exact replica of a song?), but Everclear has removed most of what made the songs original greats and given the same upbeat, fuzzy feel as their singles.

The theme to Land of the Lost and Speed Racer add a bit of whimsy to the collection (those two really are a good bit of fun), but the only truly fantastic stand alone track is Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309 (Jenny)”. Like a few other tracks, “Jenny” is performed live and it’s easy to see, in that particular performance, why Everclear has a solid fan base. They have great charisma and energy, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that I giggled and bopped along with the song - but that was hardly indicative of the album as a whole.

One of the reasons why I’ve kept in touch with Everclear’s work over the years is because of Alexakis’s daughter. Whenever he writes for her, a sweet, perfectly lovely, warm and fuzzy feel emerges from his work. These moments are rare, but they make the Everclear experience worth it, in my mind. “Brown Eyed Girl”, which is another live performance (and dedicated to his daughter), brought up that feel, endearing the performance to me.

“It’s just something that I thought the fans would like a lot,” Alexakis says, and he’s probably right. But for the rest of us, it’s just not a bold enough departure from the stuff still being played on the radio to make it worth the fifteen bucks.

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