Various Artists – Vans Warped Tour 2005 Compilation

Here we have it. The most anticipated compilation release of the year, in fact, probably the most anticipated compilation every year. That’s right, you know what I’m talking about, SideOneDummy‘s famed annual Warped Tour Compilation is here with it’s brand new 2005 edition; and like always, the two disc, fifty song album has enough kick to make any independent punk fan happy.

This year, SideOneDummy has followed the same structures that they have every year before this for the mix CD. That is, they feature every possible sub-genre of the punk rock scene. There’s the pop-punk with MXPX, Rufio, No Use For A Name, Plain White T’s, Tsunami Bomb and Name Taken, the emo with Hidden In Plain View, Amber Pacific, The Academy Is, Halifax, Hawthorne Heightsand Armor For Sleep, hardcore with bands like Roses Are Red, Death By Stereo, Zao, Underminded, From First To Last, and Bleeding Through, street and melodic hardcore punk with Millencolin, Strike Anywhere, Strung Out, The Unseen and A Wilhelm Scream, and even the occasional reggae songs with SideOneDummy‘s two new bands Bedouin Soundclash and Gogol Bordello. The only genre they are really missing here is ska, with Bid D & The Kids Table and Left Alone supplying the lone ska tunes in the fifty.

But even with these unpredictable changes in genres, the compilation still seems to flow nicely. Everybody will be forced to skip over a few songs, because there’s no way everyone will like every song on here. But even has you skip some, you don’t need to wait for long until you find the next song to put on repeat. One of the most surprising aspects of the album is definitely the abnormally high amount of unreleased tracks. Sure, give it a few months and all the songs will be released on a full length, but for now, this is the only place to hear new songs from MXPX, Dropkick Murphys, A Wilhem Scream, Go Betty Go, Youth Group, Gogol Bordello, Motion City Soundtrack, and even a live song from Flogging Molly.

There’s not much to say about these compilations that you haven’t heard before. If you’ve liked them in the past, then you’ll like this one too. Once again, it gives you a nice recap of what’s happening in the punk scene, and chances are that there will be a few bands here that you haven’t heard of before.