AMG Review of Star Power

Nitsuh Abebe
All Music Guide

Star Power is the third in a series of compilations featuring indie bands doing seventies K-Tel and AM radio covers, a gimmicky concept that has some occasionally wretched results. There are, of course, a few scores on the record: Southern Culture on the Skids raunches up the classic "Venus," and Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet do a typically amazing job with "Popcorn" -- but for every decent track like Red Red Meat's version of "I'm Not in Love," there's a lamentable attempt at wackiness like Fig Dish's cover of "Kung Fu Fightin'," or an attempt to let the oddity of the recombinations make up for the lack of musical substance (the Dick Nixons doing "One Tin Soldier," or Big Fish Ensemble covering "I Am Woman"). This is the sort of compilation that really doesn't need to exist, and even its finer moments can't overcome this obstacle.