Every act starts out as a cover act, trying to come to grasps with a song that touched a nerve. And almost every artist will sooner or later come back to it, adding a track to their live shows or record a full-blown all covers album. Record labels love them, because the material is already familiar and it can serve as a stopgap release when one of their acts is going through a dry spell. And then, of course, there are the compilation albums with a wide variety of musicians tackling one song each. Slap a theme upon it, and you are good to go. Whether it is worthy release is up to the people who picked the songs and gave some serious thought to the running order. The sprawling 3LP In the Bath gets it right, with only a handful of clunkers. Compiled by Lush co-founder Mark Constantine it features reworkings of indie songs (and ... gasp ... the Spice Girls, Enya and Céline Dion) recorded between 1991 to 2001. His company peddles Spa products, but his love for music is real, and not only skin deep.
A good cover either replicates the original, which could be boring and superfluous, or it could take the song apart and put it together again in a brand new way. On In the Bath the latter is preferred, which makes for a grand collection of familiar songs sporting a new look. Kicking off with Marry Waterson's folkified reinterpretion of Say You'll Be There (Spice Girls) the album hits the ground running. Other highlights are strings meet quirky pop Reindeer (The Knife) fun ride courtesy of singer Piney Gir, an AI Willem Burroughs retelling I Feel You (Depeche Mode), the dream pop version by Rosie Doonan of What Sound (Lamb) and the subtle sitar applied to Street Spirit (Radiohead) by Sheema Mukherjee.
In the not half bad bracket there is room Near Jazz Experience's In the Bath (Lemon Jelly), with sax player Terry Edwards channeling Roxy Music's Andy Mackay, Barney Morse Brown's grasping My Heart Will Go On Céline Dion from the sugarcoated fluff of a Vegas residency and turning into a dark post-punk track that will get a thumbs up for Goths with a sense of humour.
As mentioned before, a few clunkers slipped through. Music Sounds Better With You (Stardust) is a lame disco version by Jackie Oates, but it's less annoying than the original. DaDaLaLa's Stop the Rock (Apollo 440) starts with the same boogie riff from the Status Quo playbook, but gets lost into a miasma of vocal effects. Thankfully the band also recorded a commendable version of Screamager (Therapy?).
In the Bath is released as a 3LP set via Cosmetic Warriors & Proper Music. Release date: January 24th.
Tracks:- Marry Waterson - Say You'll Be There
- Joshua Burnside - Burnout
- Lady Maisery - Have You Ever
- Alice Faye - Bohemian Like You
- Eliza Carthy - My Affair
- Martha Tilston - Babylon
- Sheema Mukherjee - Räven
- Broken Forest - Human Behaviour
- Piney Gir - Reindeer
- Lockwatchers - ROYGBIV
- DaDaLaLa - Stop the Rock
- Near Jazz Experience - In the Bath
- DaDaLaLa - Screamager
- Jackie Oates - Music Sounds Better With You
- Nidala - Little Arithmetics
- Afro Celt Sound System - Promentory
- Palm Skin Productions - I Feel You
- The Lovely Eggs - Cannonball
- Stealing Sheep - Alright
- Rosie Doonan - What Sound
- The Dhol Foundation - Phat Planet
- Ben Murray - Nightswimming
- Jon Boden - Give Me a Little More Time
- Field Music - Devil's Haircut
- Fionnag NicChoinnich - Carribean Blue
- Angeline Morrison - The Dancer
- Ríoghnach Connolly & Honeyfeet - Nothing Can Stop Us
- Lisa Knapp & Gerry Diver - Sometimes
- Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Thunder
- Barney Morse Brown - My Heart Will Go On
- Teddy Thompson - Last Goodbye
- Craig Fortnam feat. Chantelle Pike - Teardrop
- Treya Lam - Give Me One Reason
- Chisara Agor - A Thousand Kisses Deep
- Sheema Mukherjee - Street Spirit
No comments:
Post a Comment