Take Action Volume 9

Even if a portion of the proceeds wasn't being donated to charity, Take Action Volume 9–the annual compilation released to coincide with the Take Action Tour–would still be worth six of your dollars (its suggest retail price). With two discs, 34 songs and one eager PSA from We the Kings, that's 17 cents per song-many of which are previously unreleased. There's some filler: Casey Bates' remix of 3OH!3's "Don't Trust Me" is unnecessary and We The Kings' earnest, acoustic cover of Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" doesn't pay homage to the song so much as copy it. But as you sift through to find your favorites, much of these two discs surfaces as interesting and new.



A live rendition of Taking Back Sunday's "Swing" reinvigorates the song with the band's live fervor and Hit the Lights' acoustic take on "Liars And Cheats" strips the pop-punk band down to a surprisingly strong foundation. The true highlights come on Fake Problems' bare-bones acoustic track "Mr. Rock & Roll" and Frank Turner's "Rock And Roll Romance," maybe because both artists sound like they actually know what rock 'n' roll is.



There's a lot of music on these two discs, but despite a tracklisting leaning heavily toward the pop-punk end of the spectrum, there really are songs for any type of fan–and decent ones at that. We'll just ignore the existence of "XxburritoxX," a faux-metal song from eatmewhileimhot, the screamo side project/joke band of Never Shout Never's Christofer Drew. We suggest you do, too.

Hopeless http://www.hopelessrecords.com