Jane’s Addiction, Franky Perez, others – Songs of Anarchy, Vol. 2 (2012)

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When this soundtrack compilation landed on my desk, it didn’t mean much to me. I don’t watch the show and only a few of the names on the back of the CD meant anything to me — and one of those was Katey Sagal, who I recognized only as the mother from “Married … with Children.”

The other, though — a cover of the Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” by Jane’s Addiction — caused me to pop the CD into the player. I was disappointed. Much like the rest of the record, the song was lethargic and joyless.

Not exactly the rowdy fare I expected from the soundtrack of a biker show. But I pushed on, deeper into the soundtrack, and about six songs in, found something worth my time in Franky Perez’s cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground.”

While the Red Hot Chili Peppers own, in my mind, the definitive cover, Perez’s is pretty damned hot. It’s a down-and-dirty, juke-joint rattling blues rock take on the tune that made me hit repeat a few times before moving on and come back after I was done with the rest of the record.

Of the other tracks, only Curtis Stigers’ old-time rock ‘n’ roll riff on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Travelin’ Band” really caught my ear. If I were a fan of the show, the rest of it might mean more to me, but the Perez tune was well worth the investment of time.

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Fred Phillips