Me First And The Gimme Gimmes – Are We Not Men? We Are Diva!

I’ve said before, in these pages, that I sure do love Me First And The Gimme Gimmes. They’ve taken playful, punker stabs at all sorts of genres, over the years, and handily managed each with aplomb. Every record just fills me with glee, and I’m always so glad to hear from them again.

This most recent effort (from 2014) is, as you’ve guessed, their turn playing diva songs. Check out the songs they’re covering:

Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive
Paula Abdul – Straight Up
Cher – Believe
Christina Aguilera – Beautiful
Celine Dion – My Heart Will Go On
Dolly Parton – I Will Always Love You
Carpenters – Top Of The World
Lady Gaga – Speechless
Culture Club – Karma Chameleon
Madonna – Crazy For You
Donna Summer – On The Radio
Barbara Streisand – The Way We Were

Haha oh man, it’s beautiful (yes, Christina, it’s true!). And the brilliant part of writing this up is, if you know their sound at all, you can already (pretty much) imagine what these tracks sound like in your head right now! But before you go ‘why would I buy more of the same?’, they’re not all straight on sped-up punk fascimiles of the tunes, though they’re all recognizable and glorious.

And there’s more. In keeping with what must surely pass for tradition in their camp by now, they have utilised some other songs as intros to the main cover tunes…

Straight Up uses 45 Grave’s Evil, Beautiful uses T.S.O.L.’s Superficial Love, Speechless uses the Dead Boys’ Sonic Reducer, Karma Chameleon uses Buzzcocks’ Everybody’s Happy Nowadays, Crazy For You includes a ukulele interpretation of the intro to Blondie’s The Tide Is High, and On The Radio uses Brickfield Nights by The Boys.

In only 34:11, Me Fist And The Gimme Gimmes can make you love them all over again. They’re the insouciant and mouthy, fun-loving kid up the street who’s always slightly off, but soooo much fun to hang out with on a school night.

In Sum:

This band rules. I hope they make albums forever.