Various Artists - Smoking Popes Tribute

With Born To Quit and Destination:Failure, two stellar yet almost completely overlooked albums for Capitol Records, Smoking Popes are a perfect example of a great band who were ignored in their own time and imploded before the general public could finally take notice. Like Big Star and Jawbreaker before them, however, the band was able to reach a select few ears (mostly of the “dudes who play in bands” variety - especially many of today’s punk/emo superstars) with their mix of alterna-rock guitar crunch, sophisticated melodicism, and frontman Josh Carterer’s Morrissey-esque croon. With the (ahem) cleverly titled Tribute album, some of those lucky listeners step up to repay their debt to the Popes in the form of cover versions. Unfortunately, few of the groups featured are able to put their own stamp on the material. While the Ataris’ take on “Pretty Pathetic” and Bad Astronaut’s version of “Megan” stand out as quality efforts, the non-stop barrage of fledgling groups (ever heard of Retro Morning and Blue Shade Witness? Me neither) and their straight-ahead covers dulls the effort. In a bizarre twist, the disc also features Duvall – a group made up of ex-Smoking Popes members – even appears with a performance of Popes rarity “Do Something,” but even this surprise is not enough to redeem the album’s overall same-ness. While all the groups on Tribute seem to have their hearts in the right place – few fans would be hard pressed to disagree that the Smoking Popes deserve their retroactive place in the sun – the album is too reverent to the source material for it to make an impact. Listeners looking for the Popes unique sound and energy are better off sticking to the original discs, classics in their own right. [www.doublezerorecords.com]