Capsule Music Review - Covers albums

Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs - Under the Covers Vol. 1
Tortoise and Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Brave and the Bold
Grant Lee Phillips - Nineteeneighties
Luna - Lunafied

This seems a particularly active year for established artists showing their roots by releasing albums of covers. These four records all released this year show the various approaches to the covers album and the pitfalls and rewards of each.

The Sweet/Hoffs album represents the "faithful reproduction" school of covers, attempting note-for-note versions of mostly well-known and much loved tracks such as "And Your Bird Can Sing," "The Kids are Alright" and "The Warmth of the Sun". Sweet and Hoffs' big mistake is trying to beat rock's greatest icons at their own game - who in his right mind is going to try to top the vocal achievements of the Beatles or the Beach Boys, or the chops of the Who in their prime? And really, just how much courage does it take to do "Alone Again Or" without strings? Opening track "I See the Rain" comes off best, possibly because it is the most obscure track on the record, a 1967 hit for the band Marmalade.

Representing the "radical reinterpretation" school is Will Oldham in his persona as Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Chicago art rockers Tortoise having their way with the familiar and the unfamiliar with mixed results. The noisy version of Elton John's "Daniel" is terrific, and the Frankenstein-like reconstruction of "Thunder Road" will have Springsteen fans burning Oldham in effigy but is in fact a brilliant exploration of the hidden possibilities in the song. On the other hand the version of Richard Thompson's "Calvary Cross" does nothing to improve on the original.

The goal of Grant Lee Phillips, formerly front man for Grant Lee Buffalo, seems to be to prove the songwriting credentials of icons of 80's new wave. He does this by rendering a rather obvious choice of tracks in sensitive singer-songwriter mode with a mild alt-country twang. Phillips ends up batting about .500. New Order's "Age of Consent" sounds rushed and awkward, while the Cure's "Boys Don't Cry" done with toy piano comes off very well. The version of Robyn Hitchcock's "I Often Dream of Trains" is lovely but since the original recording is in more or less an identical style I wonder what's the point. The Psychedelic Furs' "Love My Way" is also good.

The final entry comes from Luna, representing the "here are my influences, like it or not" school. The ubiquitous Serge Gainsbourg is well-represented, along with nice versions of the Beat Happening's "Indian Summer," the obscure Velvet Underground track "Ride Into the Sun" and Talking Heads' "Thank You for Sending Me an Angel."