Bag of Donuts, “Superpop” (Independent)

There’s cover bands, and there’s cover bands. Bag of Donuts is arguably the most popular one in town, because they have the most fun with the format—from their Kiss-inspired stage getups to the wide variety of party music they dig up to play. None of which means you’d necessarily want to buy a CD of well-executed covers without the live show attached, but here they apply the party-band aesthetic to a trio of original tunes. Two are agreeable homages to classic New Orleans R&B (“Put ’Em Up” evokes the Wild Tchoupitoulas, whose “Battlefront” is also covered here), but the title track’s a particular winner—written by veteran keyboardist Eddie Zip (uncle to two of the Donuts) and co-produced by him and Dr. John, it has an anthemic ’70s sound without referencing any particular bands from that era. The Doctor’s vocal interjections are the icing on the cake. The covers here are… well, they’re covers, and you at least have to admire a band that can jump from “Blitzkrieg Bop” to “Fire on the Bayou” to “Electric Avenue” (and really, how many households still have an original copy of that latter?). Mostly, though, it leaves you wanting a full disc of originals—not the first thing you’d expect to say about a Bag of Donuts record.