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Album Review: Streetlight Manifesto - 99 Songs of Revolution
by Ryan Felder

As a Streetlight fan, I had high expectations that were not met. To say that this project is ambitious is an understatement. At this rate, their next cover album should be released somewhere around 2030. 

The album begins with "Birds Flying Away" by the singer/songwriter Mason Jennings. It starts off with a subtle, yet, minor key ska groove. I feel that "Hell," originally by the Squirrel Nut Zippers is the best song on the record. They took a classic and made it better by adding leaps and bounds. Also, Kalnoky's well placed ukulele lends the song an interesting edge. He shines vocally as well. 

A track that I was looking forward to was "Just," a cover of the Radiohead song. The cover ultimately left me disappointed. It sounded like Kalnoky threw this one together in an hour. There are points in the song where his singing is terrible. The horn lines are lazy and uninspired. Frankly, I'm surprised that they put something of such low quality on their record.

The last song on the record, “Such Great Heights,” formerly done by The Postal Service is the last song on the CD. It can be argued that this song takes the most chances. The idea of covering “Such Great Heights” sounds good in its own right, but, the track is a little disjointed at times. However, I feel like it was interesting to hear the band experiment with a musical style completely different than their own.

Overall, the CD lacks the passion presented in their previous work, especially with the vocals. The record certainly has its high points, but, there are also low points that hurt the album.