Disco de Stars: “Do You Trust Your Friends?”

Stars' "Set Yourself On Fire" is one of my favorite indie albums of all time, and my definite favorite on the Arts and Crafts label. The album built upon the romanticized themes of their first two albums, while also proving the band to be a truly musically talented group. As the cliche goes, the album will always have a special place in my heart. When I first heard that Stars' masterpiece was going to be reworked by some of the most talented indie artists around today, I was both excited and worried at the same time. Did I really want this great album to be messed with? Were these talented musicians qualified to tackle this project and do it justice? Can Stars trust their friends?

The tracklist to "Do You Trust Your Friends?" is set up the same as the album it is based on. As such, most of it feels like a tribute album rather than a full-fledged remix/cover album. Also, with the exception of a few tracks, most of the original fantastic vocal work has been left in. This is a good thing, as the vocals are arguably the most attractive aspect of Stars' music.

In "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead," the lead-off and standout track from the first album, Final Fantasy takes on the huge task of recreating the cinematic feel of the original. It seems that this would be the best fit, as Owen Pallett is fantastic at composing intricate piano and string songs. However, despite his lush arrangement, the song feels very empty, and never builds into the epic grandeur of the original. It is a much more solemn song this time around, but not necessarily better. On Montag's version of "Set Yourself On Fire," layers upon layers of drums, guitars, synths, and electronics complement the vocals quite nicely without overpowering them.

My favorite track on the album has to be "Ageless Beauty" by The Most Serene Republic. Here, Amy Milan's beautiful declaration of "We will always be in love," is given new life thanks to the folksy guitars and piano that the band has implemented. I was never the biggest fan of the original, but this is a version that I can truly love. Not content to just reuse old vocals, Jason Collett opts to do a full-on cover of "Reunion." Like the songs that precede it, it offers a completely different take on Stars' music, and it does so nicely. The song now has a very southern rock feel to it, and it sounds great!

The album starts to drag a little bit with Minotaur Shock's version of "The Big Fight" which is a shallow and bland electronic rendition of a great song. If that wasn't enough, The Dears take it upon themselves to ruin what was probably the most exciting and uplifting song on "Set Yourself On Fire" with their version of "What I'm Trying To Say," which is inexplicably split into two parts. It's depressing that one of my favorite bands could completely destroy this great song. The Dears are capable of much better than this, to be sure. The album picks up again with "One More Night" covered by Apostle of Hustle. Their version of the song is not better than the original, but it is an interesting take on it nonetheless.

The Russian Futurists' version of "The First Five Times" utilizes power chords and breakbeats to make a somewhat decent reworking of the original song. This was never my favorite song to begin with, and this version doesn't change my mind about that. However, it is ambitious, and therefore worth a few courtesy listens. Metric's version of "He Lied About Death" is really the only other notable track on the album. While I'm a little disappointed to hear that the awesome saxophone solo from the original is not reused, it is refreshing to hear that the band was smart enough to leave out the absolutely childish lyric "I hope your drunken daughters are gay" (even if they do rely too heavily on the "Don't f*** with our lives" lyric).

So can Stars trust their friends? Well, they can trust some of them. Some bands like The Most Serene Republic and Jason Collett do a fantastic job of paying tribute to the original work, while others (The Stills and The Dears) completely destroy something that was once amazing. In the end, my opinion of "Do You Trust Your Friends?" is just as mixed as the quality of the songs it contains. This is not an album you'll listen to for months, or weeks for that matter. It's an album you pick up if you really loved "Set Yourself On Fire." It's an album you get if you want to hear talented musicians rework a classic collection of songs. But it's also an album that you'll wind up disappointed in. Despite the caliber of the artist contained within, "Do You Trust Your Friends" is a disappointment, plain and simple.

Recommended for fans of Stars and anyone who really likes to ruin works of art.

Key Tracks:

1. "Set Yourself On Fire" (Montag)

2. "Ageless Beauty" (The Most Serene Republic)

3. "Reunion" (Jason Collett)

4. "One More Night" (Apostle of Hustle)

5 out of 10 Stars

Possibly I'm a little biased because I grow weary of the remix album trend, particularly the indie rock variety. At best, it comes off as a little self-indulgent; at worst, well... How many covers/remixes of Feist's "Mushaboom" does the world need?

As remix albums go, this isn't terrible. There are some wonderful tracks here: "Ageless Beauty" by The Most Serene Republic was very well done, as was Apostle of Hustle's version of "One More Night." My personal favorite was Jason Collett's cover of "Reunion," which is saying quite a bit because I'm already so in love with the original. The problem is that "Set Yourself on Fire" is such a perfect orchestration (so well-timed, with all the right crashing keys and quiet moments) that anything which takes it apart merely to scramble it back together doesn't make sense. Nothing was gained. If anything, this just made me want to play the original.

So download a few tracks if you like, but don't purchase this album in its entirety. If for some reason you don't already own Stars' "Set Yourself on Fire" or "Heart," you should get to it. Otherwise, wait for the new one ("In Our Bedroom After the War") to be released, and buy that instead. It's magnificent.

I bought this album on iTunes because "Set Yourself on Fire" is one of my most favourite albums. Unfortunately many of their so called "Friends" mangle their songs badly, including on of my favorite bands The Dears. The First Five Times by the Russian Futurists just plain sucks. I really like the Junior Boys doing Sleep Tonight and"Set Yourself On Fire" (Montag), "Ageless Beauty" (The Most Serene Republic), "Reunion" (Jason Collett), "One More Night" (Apostle of Hustle) .

So there are a few good tracks but most of it is rubbish. I recommend checking out Stars version of Set Yourself on Fire before checking out this album. "Do You Trust Your Friends" doesn't even nearly do this album justice. Save your money and download the key songs only.

The question this album title asks is a pretty good one; can you trust a diverse array of other Indy bands to cover your songs (using your original vocals) and create songs that are comparable to the originals in quality? The answer is only a few of them. This is a very up and down album with a lot more down than up; many of the tracks feel flat and boring when compared to the originals. Only a few are decent.

These include "Your Ex Lover is Dead," which is deeply layered with an electronic vibe I really like, "One More Night" (my favorite from the original album) with it's intense lyrics, this time reworked with a bit more pace than last time.

This is not an album to buy while waiting for Stars to release a new album. It's more of a distraction at best, with very few songs you will find yourself listening to more than once--maybe twice if you're the type of person who likes to double check your first impressions--and it won't really stick with you like the Stars original music does.

The bottom line is that you are much better off just listening to the Stars' original albums, unless you feel obligate to support all of their artistic endeavors because you love them that much. Otherwise, skip this one.

2/5 Stars.

Stars can give all their friends high fives tonight! Highlights are The Most Serene Republic's cover of Ageless Beauty and the Camouflage Nights w/ Kevin Drew cover of Celebration Guns which brings life to something that is simple and beautiful and makes it even more full of passion. I really enjoyed The Dears covers also split into 2 which go in sync with each other perfectly. Although, I am sad he never got to say what he wanted to say. Notable songs also are Metrics cover, the Final Fantasy cover and I enjoy The Stills cover also..All in all I am more impressed with this album each and every time I listen to it. I was not such a big fan of the original album but I still tend to love the songs where they use the actual Stars vocals. Great album!