reviews

De Heideroosjes - 20 Years: Ode & Tribute

posted by: Joost78 on 4 July 2009

With the two disc set '20 Years: Ode And Tribute', Dutch punk rockers Heideroosjes celebrate their twentieth anniversary. On disc one the group plays some of their favorite songs by others, on disc two their own songs are performed by sixteen Dutch and Belgian bands.

On the 'Ode' disc the band covers fourteen punk, hardcore, pop, metal and rockabilly songs with very mixed results. I'll start with the highlights on this disc. The sped-up Misfits-medley 'We Are 138/American Psycho' really rocks. I couldn't imagine Doe Maar's 'Doe Maar Net Alsof', originally a slow reggae song, working as a punk rock song, but the Heideroosjes pull it off and it really sounds excellent here. The most obscure song of the bunch, Jeroen van Merwijk's 'E�n Oorlog Tegelijk', is sharp and good fun. And 'De Wereld Draait Door', an updated Dutch version of Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start The Fire' has the words "radio potential" written all over it.

On the other hand, there are also some tracks that don't work quite as well. Nik Kershaw's 'The Riddle' is one of the greatest hit singles from the eighties, but the Heideroosjes version of this song is just a mess - one of the worst cover songs I've heard in a while. On the original version of Uniform Choice's 'Screaming For Change', Pat Dubar sings like he desperately wants to get rid of his lungs, but Marco Roelofs sings it like he just got out of bed. The 'Medlica' is certainly daring, but singing Metallica songs just isn't a good idea unless you're James Hetfield. And do we really need yet another punk rock version of 'Ring Of Fire'?

The 'Tribute' disc is overall a bit more interesting. Some of the songs work almost effortlessly well, because you're really not taking any big risks if you give some of the most hardcore sounding Heideroosjes songs, 'I'm Not Deaf (I'm Just Ignoring You)', 'Break The Public Peace' and 'Tering Tyfus Takketrut' to Peter Pan Speedrock, Backfire! and Belgian Asociality, respectively. But there are also a few unexpected pleasant surprises here. 'Embrace & Destroy' by Gorki and 'Fistful of Ideals' by Nailpin are nicely athmospheric, Krezip's Jacqueline Govaert turns 'Time's Ticking Away' into a sweet piano ballad and mainstream radio sweethearts Bl�f and Di-Rect have the guts to rock considerably harder on 'Dan Breekt De Hel Los' and 'I Can't Change The World' than the majority of their own fanbases will appreciate.

But there are also some embarrassing contributions. 'Tering Tyfus Takketrut' by hip hop group The Opposites is not even a cover of that song, just a throwaway track of their own that happens to carry the same title. Turning a Heideroosjes track into a gothic metal song sounds like a terrible idea, and it is: Epica's version of 'Nothing's Wrong' is downright hilarious. And the joke song 'Ze Smelten de Paashaas' had it's charm when it was a silly bonus track by a juvenile punk rock band, but when veteran comedian Urbanus is yelling and screaming his way through the thing it's just painful to listen to.

In conclusion: this might be a release that has its ups and downs, but it's certainly entertaining and has some nice surprises here and there. And besides that it's of course a much more creative way to celebrate an anniversary than with just a "best of" album.

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