copelame? copelawesome?

b-sides albums are inherently bad. if the songs were amazing, they would have made it onto a full album. that said, b-sides are fun for the fans and can contain something amazing (tisbury lane by mae would be an example of this). despite this, there are good b-side's albums and really bad ones (anyone who bought anberlin's recently released b-sides knows that pain all too well. and if we find out you paid money for it, we'll feel bad for you, but we will tease you too. seriously, what were you thinking?!).

in truth, dressed up and in line is a fair compilation of my personal experience with copleand and is a pretty good b-sides project. the militia group would want me to talk about how some of the tracks were re-recorded and they really spent time and effort instead of just slopping together a bunch of demos. real copeland fan's won't care one way or the other though and i don't care either.

some tracks are impressive and amazing. "may i have this dance" was one of copeland's first recorded songs and it's great to have it and i know it will be played often in my home. i will love it like i loved beneath medicine tree, which in my opinion is one of the best albums the militia group has released so far (if ronnie day reads this, he'll be so pissed). other tracks like their cover of soundgarden's black hole sun are really not anything special and sum up the way i feel about eat, sleep, repeat - an album that for me, was disappointing.

other tracks are just what you'd expect on a b-sides: early demos, alternate versions and covers - some of them you'll love and others you will really hate and maybe even delete them off your itunes. copeland fans will want to buy this album. for the casual fan though, i would still just suggest buying beneath medicine tree. either way, your money will be better spent on this cd than on the anberlin b-side that curiously was released on the same day as copeland's.

as for copeland, who knows? with the recent friendly departure of bassist james likeness and their recent booting from columbia records, copeland's future isn't as rosy as they are portraying. i am sure that they'll land on their feet and keep making music; i just don't think it will be as easy and quick as they're saying. i hope this isn't the last copeland cd that comes across my kitchen table, but if it is, it is a fair remembrance of copeland.