This tribute album has a variety of artists including No Doubt, Ice Cube, Third Eye Blind and Moby. They cover classic Clash songs, like “London’s Burning” and “White Man in Hammersmith Palais” in a variety of styles.

Some of these covers work pretty well. I liked Ice Cube and Mack 10’s rendition of “Should I Stay or Should I go” and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones do a good job of “Rudie can’t fail”. But others I had to ship through. I couldn’t listen to No Doubt’s “Hateful”, or Cracker’s “White Riot” with a country twang. On one hand it is interesting to listen to tribute albums to see how new artists work with this classic material, but on the other hand I often just wanted to hear the original. I would recommend that libraries should just add the original albums or a “best of” rather than a tribute album. The tributes date much more quickly as the “hot bands” selected fade out of popularity.

Age Range: 13+
Ranking: Quality – 3/5 Popularity – 2/5

The Thrills are described as an indie/rock band from Dublin. This debut album is very California heavy with songs like “Big Sur” and “Santa Cruz (you’re not that far)”, inspired from their vacation in San Diego. This strong California influence lead to the band being featured on The O.C., in seasons one and two. This album is pretty mellow overall with catchy tunes that stick in your head but don’t bug you. The Thrills list their influences as Dylan and the Beach Boys and I can see that from this album. Even their upbeat songs have a touch of that melancholy that bands like Coldplay made famous.

I am a pretty big fan of Brit Rock which is why I jumped on this album when I saw it in the HPL YA collection. I’m not sure how big The Thrills still are with the teens but they are still producing albums, their third is on the way (according to their MySpace page). This is a pretty good album for lazy summers or even just chillin’ in your room. This wasn’t my taste in music as a teen but I’m sure some of them would like it. Even without The O.C. I don’t think that California will ever go out of style.

Age range: 14+
Ranking: Quality – 4/5 Popularity – 3/5