Me First and The Gimme Gimmes

Blow In The Wind (2001)

Scott Heisel

The third time is definitely the charm for this punk rock supergroup. For those of you who don't know, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes is the all-cover punk band constructed out of former and current members of NOFX, Lagwagon, Swingin' Utters, No Use For A Name, and more. Their mission: to punkify a decade's worth of songs in less than a half hour. Do they succeed? With flying colors. MFTGGs' first album, while highly entertaining, had some clunkers [do we really need a punk version of "Mandy" or "Fire and Rain?"]. Their second album is a personal favorite of mine, consisting of redone showtunes. The problem was with their audience -- how many 14-year old skatepunks do you know who avidly enjoy Evita, Phantom Of The Opera, and Porgie And Bess? I've been hearing those songs all my life and loved hearing MFTGGs tear up Broadway, but I don't think many other people did. But they finally hit the nail right on the head with their latest album. The theme? The Sixties. Everyone, and I mean everyone knows these songs. "Sloop John B," "All My Lovin'," "My Boyfriend's Back" -- these are classics in any form. There honestly is not one dud out of the 13 tracks on here, and some of the song openings will make you do a double take. While covering these 60's popsters, The Gimmes managed to weave in some punk licks from No Use For A Name, Bad Religion, NOFX, and even The Clash, making for an extremely entertaining listen. I highly recommend this to anyone who even remotely likes punk in any form -- this album will make you laugh, it will make you smile, and it will make you drive around with the windows down singing Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens licks at the top of your lungs.

[taken from A different kind of greatness webzine]