‘Pledge’ - A Tribute To Kerbdog
Legendary Irish rockers get the tribute treatment.
Tribute albums are always a mixed proposition. You’re showing your admiration for a band by either directly copying their songs (lazy/boring?), attempting to make them sound better (dangerous/arrogant?) or trying to bring something new to the mix but respecting the songs (hopefully where you land).
Kilkenny four-piece Kerbdog deserve a tribute record if for no other reason than to remind people of their influence on the crunching riff/melodic vocal bands that followed in their wake.
'Pledge' is a solid album, with a fair amount of straightforward covers that do nothing wrong but really do make you want to listen to the originals instead. The most interesting propositions here are Frank Turner’s cover of ‘Sally’ which is all acoustic prettiness, giving the song an almost country flare. But in a good way. The other highlight is Dave McPherson’s version of ‘JJ’s Song’ which again is an acoustic number and highlights the musical and lyrical strengths of the songwriting perfectly. In fact the success of these songs makes us wish they’d gone for a more acoustic approach to the whole thing, lending more of a haunting quality to the covers.
All in all the album offers a nice mix of songs from the bands two albums, 1994’s self-titled debut and 1997’s ‘On the Turn’. It serves as a good tribute to a great band, but it's only an essential purchase for hardcore Kerbdog devotees.
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