Cover #100: Angelic Upstarts cover "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" by The Animals

 I had forgotten about this band for a good long time until earlier today, when I saw that Cherry Red plans to reissue their "Teenage Warning" album.  That encouraged me to poke around the AU back catalog a bit and check out this cover.  The cover is not terribly unique, but the AUs do bring their sort of 999-meets-UK Subs-with tiny bit of Oi sound to the endeavor.  This is by no means a bad cover but it could easily be better.  ✅✅✅

Cover #99: State Of Alert covers "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" by Paul Revere and the Raiders

 Yeah, I know, it is actually called "Stepping Stone Party" as done here by Henry Rollins's first band and it is quite a different version from the one done by their good pals Minor Threat, though Ian makes an obvious guest appearance.  This is good sloppy punk fun- it reminds me of the Black Flag "Louie Louie" cover in that it is both respectful and irreverent at the same time. 

Cover #98: Jon Langford covers "Junco Partner" by James Waynes

 For many of us, the version by The Clash was probably our first taste of this Louisiana classic blues song from the early 1950s.  This is one of those songs that lends itself to being covered well in multiple genres and approaches, including this version, which is sort of an Appalachian/ jug band approach.  This cover won't beat the Clash version for any awards, but it is a solid, entertaining version that isn't afraid to be itself.

✅✅✅✅

Cover #97: Dead Cross covers "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus

 This much shortened version of the classic Bauhaus song is mainly the vocal parts of the original.  It's done well, in a sort of classic punk meets White Zombie style, but it just encourages me to listen to the original.  

✅✅✅

Cover #96: Mrs. Fun covers "She Blinded Me With Science" by Thomas Dolby

 I'll get right to the point- there is nothing good about this cover.  Period.  The music is mostly a big miss, including a head scratching drum solo partway through that only serves to draw attention to how crappy the rest of the instrumentation is.  The vocals are limp and there is a really bad spoken interlude before the the rockin' sockin' drum solo.  This cover stinks.

💩

Cover #95: Loyal Order Of Water Buffalo covers "Mexican Radio" by Wall Of Voodoo

 I never heard of these Water Buffalo guys, and this cover is pretty bland.  They perform this in a sort of jangly near country-alternative style with slightly whiny male vocals that reminds me a bit of a cross between Cracker, Violent Femmes, Better Than Ezra, and so forth.  One listen is plenty enough for me.

✅✅

Cover #94: The Cure covers "World In My Eyes" by Depeche Mode

 This comes from one of the best tribute albums ever.  I have quite a lot of tribute albums in my collection, and their quality definitely conforms to a bell curve.  There are some that are mostly bad, some that are mostly excellent, and the great majority are in the middle with a mixture of good and poor cover songs.  For The Masses:  A Tribute To Depeche Mode is very far on the excellent side of the curve.

   As for this particular song, it is actually one of the least exciting covers on the album.  Not because it isn't good-  it is a good cover, it sounds exactly like The Cure, not The Cure Trying To Sound Like Depeche Mode.  It's only flaw is that there are so many other truly exciting covers on this record that it pales a little by comparison.

✅✅✅