CD Review: Warped Tour 2007 Compilation

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Warped Tour 2007 Compilation
(Side One Dummy Records)

It's kind of like the annual return of the swallows to Capistrano, the return of the Warped Tour to a city near you every summer. The first rainy days of spring also mean that there will be a new Warped Tour compilation CD released, two-discs chock-full o' punk, metal, ska...well, you name the sub-sub-sub-genre of your choice...just a veritable crapload of music at a price to fit damn near anyone's budget.

Warped Tour 2007 Compilation is this year's erstwhile collection, with an even-steven 50 tracks presented on two CDs, diversely ranging across just about every alt-genre of rock music that you could dream up. The Reverend eagerly awaits each year's tour comp 'cause, for this scribe's hard-earned coin, there's no better way to A) discover new bands that you haven't heard and B) find out what your old favorites are up to these days. The 2007 collection includes a number of category 'B' bands like Bad Religion, Tiger Army, Strung Out and the Toasters and a bunch of category 'A' bands that the Reverend wants to check out, so let's just chase the best of the bunch down by category and see how they rate, shall we?

CATEGORY A

I Am Ghost - Our Friend Lazarus Sleeps
A melodic, metal-edged rocker with machine-gun pacing and mostly clean vocals, I Am Ghost an energetic band worth hearing more from.

Amber Pacific - Summer (In B)
Nice drum-rolls to jumpstart this snotty pop-punk tune, Amber Pacific displaying plenty of guts and drive. That's some sweet fretwork on the break, smart lyrics and an overall vibrant wall-of-clashing-sound to the song that sets it a notch above your typical three-chord punkers.

Street Dogs - Fading American Dream
Street Dogs remind me of Stiff Little Fingers back in the good old days of punk yore, the song evincing a sort of Celt-punk vibe with smart, socially-conscious lyrics, a great guitar chorus, oi-oi-oi-styled vox and an infectious rant-n-roll feel; taken from the album of the same name, which the Reverend will be acquiring sometime soon.