VARIOUS ARTISTS
For Those About To Rawk - A Punk
Tribute To AC/DC (Cleopatra)
Reviewed by Alan Wright

---

These Cleopatra "punk tributes," which have been done for Nirvana, Weezer and NOFX are usually pretty fun. As with the former volumes, many of the usual suspects appear: the Vibrators, Dr. Know, Flipper, the Skulls, D.I., and the Groovie Ghoulies for instance have all appeared on at least two, or all three of the previous ones! This one also has the Angry Samoans doing a killer version of "Highway To Hell," the Dwarves' bizarre hip hop/hardcore version of "Big Balls" (oddly also on the The Reptilian Records AC/DC tribute album, Hell Ain'ta Bad Place to Be), Aggression's cool take on "Touch Too Much" and others.

Most of the bands play it pretty straight, as it should be, with only the aforementioned Dwarves and Dr. Know messing with the formula - their "Rock 'n' Roll Damnation" is just too fast and sacrifices power for sheer speed, and is not nearly as fun as the Groovie Ghoulies version of the same song. Flipper's version of "Problem Child" is chaotic, crazed, but really rocking especially with the fuzzed-out bass sound throughout. Other faves include the Vibrators' "Rocker," the Skulls' "Shot Down In Flames," and the Dayglo Abortions' "The Jack." Two bands I'd never heard before, Damnation For Chaos, and Jack The Crack, seemingly are the only female-represented bands here, with the former's "Back In Black" cooking like no tomorrow, and the latter's "For Those About To Rock" ending the comp off on a high note.

© 2003 - Alan Wright