Though they've never quite gone supernova, Tokyo trio GO!GO!7188 have always fared better than should be expected of such an unusual band, frequently loitering in the higher echelons of the charts with their curious blend of reverb-soaked rockabilly guitar, beefy beats, genre-busting tunes and soaring Japanese melodies.
But while their complex and genre-straddling songs have leaned toward the avant-garde, their catalog is peppered with more straightforward, accessible songs that anyone can love — and these are the tunes mainly represented by friends of the band on tribute album "GO!GO! A GO!GO!"
The Neatbeats, who share GO!GO!'s manager, seem to grasp them the best: Their version of "Taiyo" ("Sun") cleverly repurposes those trebly guitar echoes into a vintage rock 'n' roll dancefloor smash. Detroit7 make short work of "Thunder Girl," a straightforward rock-out that sounds more at home in their hands than it ever did in GO!GO!'s. Meanwhile, Shonen Knife's cover of "Punk" takes a turn for the dark, the sort of stark melancholy that has only occasionally punctuated the Knife's otherwise gloriously Day-Glo output.