Music Reviews

Album Review: Everclear – ‘The Vegas Years’

By Jeff Swindoll Apr 21, 2008, 13:43 GMT

"The Vegas Years" features 15 instantly recognizable classic rock hits and other enduring tracks performed by Everclear. Includes memorable hits originally recorded by Tom Petty, Van Morrison, Cheap Trick, Neil Young, and more! ...more

Everclear is a rock band from Portland, Oregon – not they’re not from Vegas.  They consist of Art Alexakis (vocals, guitar), Dave French (guitar), Sam Hudson (bass), Josh Crawley (keyboards), and Brett Snyder (drums).

In the tradition of the Vegas lounge act, it would appear; the band has decided to cover a multitude of tunes over the years and now brings them together in this release. 

Two of them are previously unreleased, “Rich Girl” from Hall and Oates and “Kicks” from Paul Revere and the Raiders.  They even cover the theme songs from “Land of the Lost” and “Speed Racer” (rather timely with that new movie coming out). 

My favorite is probably their cover of Tom Petty’s “American Girl,” but I thought that covering Woody Guthrie (“This Land is Your Land”) was a novel thing to do.  They also include some live tracks (Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl”) and the end album with a live version of Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309 (Jenny)” that’s a fun way to wrap up the album. 

It’s rather an eclectic collection and I got quite the kick hearing covers from a wide ranging variety of musicians.  You don’t have to be an Everclear fan to like this one.