The Weekly CD Review by Clappy

I had so much fun doing this last week for Lady Gaga's Born This Way before I hurt myself that I am thinking of making this a weekly idea. I am going to be reviewing music from any genre and I will also take requests, but if it's someone I have never heard of, don't be surprised if I turn the request down.

I will copy and paste my Born This Way review later to give everyone a hint of how my reviews will look like

Without further ado, a track by track review by me of Born This Way with minor comments, then a summary at the end.

1. Marry The Night = 3.8/5

Be prepared to hear this comment a lot, but reminded me of 80s pop music. Started off very slow, but it started to gradually get better as the song progressed.

2. Born This Way = 4.25/5

Would have remained a 4.5 if it wasn't for the radio stations overplaying it. Great song regardless and while it does remind me of Madonna, I still love Gaga's message with the song about being proud of who you are.

3. Government Hooker = 4.75/5

The first time I heard it, I was like wtf did I just listen to. I played it again and it started to grow on me. You know what I did after that? Listened to it a third time. It would be a perfect five if it wasn't for Gaga's obvious political statements with the song. I could care less about politics in my music. Regardless, one of the best songs on the album.

4. Judas = .5/5

I literally skipped this track when I was going through the album. I disliked this song when I first heard it and I dislike it even more now. The .5 is me being generous because I don't think its a 0 worthy song. I still hate it though.

5. Americano = 2/5

Pretty boring. This song wasn't horrible, but it just bored me. When your mind starts to wonder how much longer this song is and what other songs come afterwards, never really a good sign.

6. Hair = 4/5

Thought it was boring the first time I heard it on YouTube. I liked it a lot more this time around. Just like with Born This Way, I love how Gaga is telling people to be themselves and just to be free as your hair . Plus I am a sucker for the saxophone. More on that later.

7. ScheiBe = 3.5/5

It does its purpose to be a fun dance song. Don't have any fond feelings about the lyrics but I liked the beat. Sometimes an awesome beat just makes a song that much better. Yet again, more on that later.

8. Bloody Mary = 2/5

Let's just call this better than Judas, but stil boring as hell. I don't care if Gaga is an atheist, but at least try to make the song interesting.

9. Bad Kids = 3/5

Roller coaster ride of a song. Yet again, Gaga goes 80s. I was entertained by portions but couldn't care about others. Average song overall, just doesn't stand out.

10. Highway Unicorn (Road To Love) = 3.75/5

Congrats on the most random title on this cd. Otherwise, I feel that it was a good song. This seriously would have been one of the best tracks, but it was just fourty seconds longer than it should have been IMO. I don't know what I would have cut out, but it just felt way too long to me =/

11. Heavy Metal Lover = 4.6/5

Obviously not the best lyrics which is only a minor complaint because I fucking loved this beat. No other track comes close to matching the beats in this song. So amazing and I would definitely be caught dancing to this song at a party/club or whatever.

12. Electric Chapel = 4.25/5

Once more, Gaga goes 80s, but unlike the previous two attempts (to me at least) this was the most successful at recreating a hit song from the 80s.

13. You and I = 4.9/5

I don't know if this is Gaga goes Country or Gaga goes Classic Rock, but this is almost the best song on the album. I could seriously see this song crossing over to the country music or the rock genre due to its classic rock vibes. Just love it!

14. The Edge of Glory = 5/5

This song has just grown on me so much the past two weeks. I love it so much and love how overplayed it is becoming on the radio because I don't think I will ever be tired of it, especially the saxophone solo. This is almost my Favorite Gaga song (cough So Happy I Could Die and Bad Romance). Even if the music video ends up being incredibly out there (wouldn't surprise me at this rate xP), I would still proclaim this song as the best on the album.



FINAL RATING - B+

Incredibly overhyped like it was expected to be, but for the most part Gaga delivers. The album gets so much better towards the end that it makes you forgive some of the failed efforts (here's to you Judas, Americano, and Bloody Mary). On the other hand, one more year until Lady Gaga re-releases Born This Way with even more tracks .

This review was fun in retrospect (I did this before I hurt myself for those who are wondering) and I might do this again with other albums for those who are interested.

Like I said earlier, Glee soundtracks! (maybe just the seasonal volumes, not the individual, special albums). And maybe Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours".

You must review the Official Dante's Inferno soundtrack.

Locust Abortion Technician plz.

Ok for my first edition, I'm going to review other people singing hit songs......and its not Glee xP

Punk Goes Classic Rock

Review coming this weekend

Clappy wrote:Ok for my first edition, I'm going to review other people singing hit songs......and its not Glee xP

Punk Goes Classic Rock

Review coming this weekend

Never heard of it.

that70sguy92 wrote:

Clappy wrote:Ok for my first edition, I'm going to review other people singing hit songs......and its not Glee xP

Punk Goes Classic Rock

Review coming this weekend

Never heard of it.

It's a bunch of punk bands doing classic rock songs like Paint It Black, Crazy Train, and Bohemian Rhapsody, just to name a few.

Clappy wrote:

that70sguy92 wrote:

Clappy wrote:Ok for my first edition, I'm going to review other people singing hit songs......and its not Glee xP

Punk Goes Classic Rock

Review coming this weekend

Never heard of it.

It's a bunch of punk bands doing classic rock songs like Paint It Black, Crazy Train, and Bohemian Rhapsody, just to name a few.

I might actually look this up.

Clappy wrote:

that70sguy92 wrote:

Clappy wrote:Ok for my first edition, I'm going to review other people singing hit songs......and its not Glee xP

Punk Goes Classic Rock

Review coming this weekend

Never heard of it.

It's a bunch of punk bands doing classic rock songs like Paint It Black, Crazy Train, and Bohemian Rhapsody, just to name a few.

You can review them... if you review Glee next.

I disagree greatly with your "Born this Way" review. Bloody Mary is one of my favorite songs on the album, and I don't think a song has to be fast and exciting to be a good song, like you made it out to be (at least that's what I thought.) And for some of your reviews, where you gave the song a 3.5, you didn't really EXPLAIN why you gave them a middle score. I'd like to know. As for Born this Way, Lady Gaga can't really control the song being overplayed, so I don't think the media attention it garners should really affect the overall quality of the song. Quality over quantity, as you yourself have said before.

Other than that, I pretty much agree.

tvguy347 wrote:I disagree greatly with your "Born this Way" review. Bloody Mary is one of my favorite songs on the album, and I don't think a song has to be fast and exciting to be a good song, like you made it out to be (at least that's what I thought.) And for some of your reviews, where you gave the song a 3.5, you didn't really EXPLAIN why you gave them a middle score. I'd like to know. As for Born this Way, Lady Gaga can't really control the song being overplayed, so I don't think the media attention it garners should really affect the overall quality of the song. Quality over quantity, as you yourself have said before.

Other than that, I pretty much agree.

I appreciate the constructive criticism tvman. To make a few points.

-You thought wrong about Bloody Mary. I don't like it because its a slow song. I just don't like it when artists shove their views in my face without making the song interesting. I get that Lady Gaga is an atheist, but she could at least make her religious views into an interesting song (i.e. Madonna). Gaga didn't wow me with Bloody Mary and she did even worse with Judas.

-I could have indeed explained why I gave some of my 3 something rated songs that score. I just assumed when people thought they saw that score, they thought it meant the song was okay to me and did nothing to make me love it or hate it. You are correct.

-Born This Way is still a great song, but sometimes you start of loving a song, then the radio just starts to kill some feelings towards it. That kinda happened to me =/.

-As for your statement about Lady Gaga being unable to control how much her song gets played on the radio, let me teach you something I learned in radio class this year that I found intriguing. There is this service called payola where musical artists and/or studio heads pay the radio stations to play a certain song a certain amount of times. While payola has been declared unethical, some artists still do it anyway. Am I accusing Lady Gaga of being one of those artists? No I am not, but it is food for thought.

-Touche with you using my quality over quantity line against me. I agree, but at the same time, I don't want to go into run on detail about every single song on a CD though, but maybe I should make my summaries more clear cut and precise.

Claps, I agree with you, but as far as I know Lady Gaga is a Catholic.

that70sguy92 wrote:Claps, I agree with you, but as far as I know Lady Gaga is a Catholic.

Really? Someone in my pop culture class last semester said she was atheist.

Clappy wrote:

that70sguy92 wrote:Claps, I agree with you, but as far as I know Lady Gaga is a Catholic.

Really? Someone in my pop culture class last semester said she was atheist.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure she said on the MTV special she had that she was born and raised Catholic, and I think I read it somewhere else as well.

Punk Goes Classic Rock

So I have been a fan of the Punk Goes series for quite some time. I especially love the Punk Goes Pop editions since they are quite enjoyable. Will this edition match to the good standards of Punk Goes Pop?

1. More Than A Feeling - Hit The Lights = 4/5

One of the better renditions. This song could easily transition into a punk song, which can't be said about some of the other songs. Don't know who the band is, but they remind me a lot of Blink-182. I liked this.

2. Paint It Black – VersaEmerge = 3.25/5

Mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, I have a huge crush on the lead singer of VersaEmerge. Sierra Kusterbeck is a beautiful woman and VersaEmerge is a better version of Paramore if you ask me, since they could be mistaken as the same band . However, this comes no where close to matching The Rolling Stones version whatsoever. Nice try.

3. Free Fallin - The Almost = 2/5

The Almost is one of my favorite bands, but this is just a lazy version of the original by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. They really did nothing to try and differentiate themselves from the original Free Fallin. Sorry, but this was so disappointing.

4. We Are The Champions - Mayday Parade = 1.5/5

Another disappointing one. I like Mayday Parade, but dammit they disgraced Freddie Mercury. I mean seriously. There are so many fucking renditions of this song and outside of Bohemian Rhapsody (more on that later) they could have done any other Queen song. Yuck, this was a mess.

5. Rock N Roll All Nite - The Summer Set = 2.25/5

The Summer Set tried to make this song their own, but the song Rock N Roll All Nite just sounded so odd trying to become a punk song. It just did not work whatsoever, but I will give them credit trying not to do another lazy version like some of the previous songs on here earlier.

6. Caught Up In You - We The Kings = 3.75/5

This was a good rendition. I had a hard time telling that this was a remake of a classic rock song. This was one of the more successful tracks on this cd in trying to make the song their own. I remember hearing We The Kings last summer on the radio with Demi Lovato. They have a bright future ahead of them if they keep it up.

7. Seperate Ways (Worlds Apart) - A Skylit Drive = 4/5

These guys did a great job with this one. There were elements of the original that got remastered and then they made the song their own. Another song that could have easily been mistaken as a punk song, but it gave the original some justice. Maybe it’s my bias kicking in, but A Skylit Drive never does wrong.

8. Your Love - I See Stars = 4.25/5

I was so concerned when I saw that these guys were doing one of my favorite classic rock songs. I was getting prepared to write a bad review automatically criticizing them, but then I listened to the full song. So good! The lead singer has such an awesome voice! Then when he screams, you have a hard time telling it’s him. Tied for the best song on the album, but I just can’t say its better than one of my favorite classic rock songs.

9. Don’t Feat The Reaper – Pierce The Veil = 2/5

Must not show bias, but……GGGAAHHHH!!! Don’t Fear The Reaper is another one of my favorite classic rock songs. This just did not work. The lead singer’s voice just did not do the song justice whatsoever! If anything, I will give them credit for trying to make the song sound different from the original, but this was the biggest disappointment to me on this album.

10. Crazy Train – Forever The Sickest Kids = .5/5

I knew I was going to hate this song when I first saw Forever The Sickest Kids listed on the album. They managed to ruin Will Smith’s Men in Black song and now they ruined Ozzy Osbourne’s famous song. The original was so badass, but this rendition just sounded like cheesy bullshit. Thank you Forever The Sickest Kids. Have fun being famous for ruining good songs and singing “Woah oh” in NERF commercials!

11. Pour Some Sugar on Me – The Maine = 3/5

The Maine isn’t as bad as Forever The Sickest Kids, but I don’t like them. However, I will give them some credit for this song. The Maine usually sings very light hearted and sound just as cheesy as FTSK. However, they changed their style a bit for this rendition and it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t good either, but this was the biggest surprise on the album (at least to me since I know most of these bands xP).

12. All Along The Watchtower – Envy on the Coast = .75/5

How dare they humiliate Jimi Hendrix! Fuck you Envy on the Coast! This was terrible. I don’t know who the guitar player is, but he disgraced Jimi Hendrix with his guitar playing skills. The best part of any Jimi Hendrix song is his guitar rifts. The guitar player half-assed the guitar rifts without a doubt. The best part of this song? I don’t know what to tell you guys, but this was garbage. Almost beat out the Crazy Train trainwreck for worst song.

13. Take Me Home Tonight – Every Avenue = 4/5

These guys are usually cheesy (along the lines of The Maine and Forever The Sickest Kids, except Every Avenue is good), but the difference between these guys and the other two listed is that they know their strengths. They choose a song that managed to bring out their strengths and succeeded. This is how you make a song your own, although the chorus could have been a bit better with the female singer bit. I just didn't get that part.

14. Bohemian Rhapsody – Never Shout Never = 2.5/5

When I saw this song on the CD, I knew that this wasn’t going to turn out good. Bohemian Rhapsody is one of the biggest songs in the history of rock. Never Shout Never was bound to end up doing a karaoke version of the original because the original is untouchable. So I will give them a middle of the line score. I have heard better renditions, but I have heard worst. They and nobody that does a rendition of this song will never make it their own…..EVER!

15. Dream On – blessthefall = 4.3/5

The best song on the album…..barely. I liked it a lot and this came within centimeters of being better than the original, but the last minute ruined it for me. I’m sorry, but he can not reach the high notes like Steven Tyler and he sounded incredibly awkward doing so. Plus the little choir bit was kinda laughable instead of powerful. Still, I give blessthefall props for saving the best rendition for last.

FINAL GRADE – C

Wow, where to start. I don’t think any of these songs are better than the original. This is probably the first time I can say that about any of the renditions in any of The Punk Goes series. That doesn’t mean there weren’t good songs on here. When the renditions were good, they were good. However, when they were bad, they were bad. A problem for most of these bands was trying to make the original song their own. Some succeeded in this area, but others failed. The Punk Goes series should never venture out into classic rock territory ever again because these songs are classics for a reason, meaning the originals were just that damn good.

Thank you for saving me from having to look it up, Slaps.