Not one complaint about this record. Not one! Seriously, a double-CD oozing with 31 covers recorded within the first decade of Electric Frankenstein's existence that all rock...hard. The bands that this VERY prolific New Jersey outfit have covered span the gamut: they kick things off with a raucous rendition of Circle Jerks' "Wild in the Streets" (well, I should say a song written by Garland Jeffreys, but made "famous" in punk circles by Circle Jerks...), and end on the most absurdly humorous (and ghoulish) tune found on either disc, TV horror host/icon John Zacherley's "Coolest Little Monster", a song from the 1960 album 'Spook Along with Zacherley'. With its distinctively '60s British rock sound and overly dramatic vocals, this is the cover to end all covers... And everything in between these two songs that bookend the two CDs is worthy of mention - their rendition of The Misfits' "Queen Wasp"?! Fun fun fun! - but of course, cannot be written about here simply because I wouldn't be able to shut myself up. No, friends, to truly understand the degree of sheer enjoyment this release is capable of eliciting, you must go and buy this record for yourselves.
That being said, covers of expected bands like the aforementioned Misfits, Generation X ("Runnin' with the Boss Sound"), The Clash ("1977"), New York Dolls ("Frankenstein"), and Dead Boys (how wonderful to hear EF play Dead Boys' "Third Generation Nation"! It's great just because they have such an inherent Dead Boys feel to their sound and there's definitely a little Stiv Bators evident in the vocals...), as well as fare as disparate as Iron Maiden ("Aces High"), Pink Floyd ("Wish You Were Here"), Aerosmith ("Sick As a Dog"), and Fleetwood Mac ("The Chain"). And what's great is that the liner notes describe WHY EF decided to cover songs from each band and just what they did with the sound to change it and make it their own.
Some of the highlights (aside from all those mentioned above) are DRI's "Plastique" - super-fast and intense, Girlschool's "Not for Sale" - this song is so bass heavy and full-sounding, the tough "Your Emotions" originally by Dead Kennedys, Motorhead's "We Are the Road Crew" and the excellent version of Vox Pop's "Just Like Your Mom".
