Given that Good Riddance has been around for about 15 years, one can forgive them slightly for wanting to do a cover album, which are normally received with apprehension from fans and non-fans alike.
Some of the tunes seemed marred by the band trying to be funny and instead being annoying (the snotty "na-na-na" chorus on "Melt With You," the high-pitched girly shrieking on "Leader of the Pack," etc.).
Adding former Lifetime and Kid Dynamite drummer David Wagenschutz made Good Riddance a really tight apparatus on the rhythm end, and hopefully Wagenschutz's talent can bring some respect to the band as legitimate musicians (if that's something they care about, that is).
Highlights of the album would no doubt be the Kiss cover and Bill Stevenson of Black Flag, All, and the Descendents doing drums and guitar on the Black Flag tune. To a larger degree, this cover album is similar to the entire school of cover albums: If you're a fan of the band and you like even just a few of the covers, you'll dig the album. If you like some of the songs but aren't much of a fan of the band, you'll be able to tolerate the songs.
So the lesson is that cover albums are (in almost all cases) for fans only. Cover Ups is no exception.
