these are the days it never rains but it pours
So, you probably know the score. It's Radio 1's 40th birthday and to celebrate they have asked 40 contemporary artists to cover a record from each of the years from 1967 to the present day.
The station has been playing them for a couple of weeks now, and having heard a few I thought this might be an interesting collection.
Put very simply; it isn't. Most of the covers are average at best, many quite faithful and few that add anything whatsoever to the original record. Indeed, some of them (even by artists I like) are such poor efforts that I can hardly bear to hear them. I don't mean to be rude to Mike Skinner, but I have to say that my recent performance of "Your Song" by Elton John (at a company "Stars In Their Eyes" function) was streets (pun intended) better than his.
There are some decent efforts here, although few and far between. Kylie gives the disco touch to Roxy Music's "Love Is The Drug" (in stark contrast to KT Tunstall's mediocre stab at "Let's Stick Together) and the Foo Fighters' do a grand rock job of "Band On The Run". Of the older singles, the Feeling do a suitably kitsch job of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain", McFly do a surprisingly energetic "A Town Called Malice" and the Pigeon Detective's indie guitar version of Huey Lewis' "Power of Love" is also pretty good.
The newer CD (1987 onwards) is even worse. Other than the two Madonna covers - Groove Armada's interesting take on Crazy For You" and Natasha Bedingfield's competent "Ray Of Light", there's not much here at all. Oh, other than Girls Aloud's suitably poptastic "Teenage Dirtbag", of course.
The only standout track, and this is an opinion that is going to sound hopelessly biased, is the 1981 effort. Others have heard this and been impressed, I would say, and the feedback it got on it's Radio One play was also more positive than many of the other songs. It sounds like a car crash, but Keane's amazingly faithful take on Queen and Bowie's "Under Pressure" still gives me goosebumps a few days on.
So, save your £12 and download the individual songs of artists you like or songs you like. Whilst I doubt even these will do much for you, I wouldn't expect anything else to jump out and grab you. Shame, really.
delivered by LB at 7:46 PM
2 Discussions:
I think you're being generous by saying "most of the covers are average at best"!
I didn't get to hear many of them on the radio, so jumped at the chance to grab this double cd.
I need to give it a few more spins, but so far I think most of them are very poor.
When an artist does a cover, in my opinion they should attempt to own it. What's the point of doing a cover in much the same way as the original?! At least give it something from yourself instead of letting the song own you.
I'll come back and post again when I've given it a few more spins (If I can stand it).
Radio 1....you should be ashamed.
After a few more spins:
Amy Winehouse doing Cupid stands out as being one of the best things on there, in my opinion. But then again, it's not a million miles away from her regular outings anyway, is it.
The Fratellis should be ashamed of themselves. As should Mike Skinner, The Gossip, Razorlight, The Kooks, Hard Fi and Lily Allen.
To be applauded are Groove Armada, Paolo Nutini, Keane, Just Jack, James Morrison and my particular favourite Maximo Park with their brilliant rendition of Justin's "Like I Love You". I mean, come on....the spoken word lines towards the end where he says "....and my favourite moment was on I Feel For You, when that bloke went Chaka Khan". Genius!
Oh, and what on earth is "Stillness in time" doing on there? Hardly a defining song is it?! That might as well have been included on Calvin Harris's own album.
Post a Comment
<< Home