This review is part of a series looking back at significant albums on their anniversaries. Through the benefit of hindsight we will be viewing the album not just as it was released, but how it stands the test of time, as well as its place in the band’s discography and the genre in general.
Jade Tree – 22 Jan 2002
20 years later, this EP holds up primarily due to the bands covering each other.
My favorite release from either Alkaline Trio or Hot Water Music remains their 2002 split EP on Jade Tree Records. The split features two original songs from each band before the they both take a stab at covering each other, with some pretty impressive results. The original songs are great, but the two groups really excel at covering each other’s best material.
I have to give a quick nod to the original songs, even though the covers are really the draw on this split. “Queen of Pain” is one of my favorite Ak3 tracks and it’s one that I wish made it into their regular rotation. Similarly, “Russian Roulette” is a forgotten Hot Water Music classic that shows off the band’s ability to layer their sound, placing an undistorted guitar at the song’s core at the beginning, despite all the distorted guitars buzzing around it.
Alkaline Trio, for their cover, have a go at Hot Water Music’s “Rooftops,” originally from 1999’s No Division. Alkaline Trio’s version really makes the song their own, tightening it and giving it a much more distinctive pop-punk edge. My favorite part about Alkaline Trio’s cover of “Rooftops,” though, is the point in the middle of the song where one of the members of the band, apropos of absolutely nothing, just screams “Smoke weed!” in the background of the song, words that do not appear in Hot Water Music’s original version.
Hot Water Music try their hand at two different Alkaline Trio tunes- the band’s most famous song, “Radio,” off their 2000 studio album, Maybe I’ll Catch Fire, and the much lesser known “Bleeder” from the early EP I Lied My Face Off. “Radio” seems like an obvious choice for Hot Water Music as the original relies heavily on the fact that Alkaline Trio has two lead singers with contrasting voices that convey different moods in the song. However, while Hot Water Music also has two lead singers, Chris Wollard and Chuck Ragan’s singing voices are far more similar to each other than Matt Skiba’s is to Dan Andriano’s, and therefore some of that contrast gets lost.
But, if Hot Water Music’s rendition of “Radio” fails to justify the need for this particular cover, their version of “Bleeder” is one of the most outstanding cover songs I’ve ever heard. While the original “Bleeder” is a typical Alkaline Trio pop-punk rocker, Hot Water Music breaks the song down to basics using just an acoustic guitar and a cello. The simple arrangement finds a beauty in the song that even Alkaline Trio couldn’t find in the original, transforming it into a gut-wrenching and emotionally raw ballad.
The two bands’ original songs are great, but what really shines through on this EP are the covers that show a great understanding of the other band’s music. “Bleeder” is such a great cover that I often cite it as one of the best covers I’ve ever heard as, far from copyingl, it finds a very different way of performing the song that works even better than the original. That’s a big part of why I still treasure this split 20 years later.
Julie is punk rock, lesbian time lady from the future. The greatest things in the world are punk rock and science fiction. Check out her website JulieRiver.com!
