REVIEW: Various Artists, Interpretations (EMI/Capitol)
- Tracey Bleile
A new offering in the Essentials series takes the vision one step further to encompass the purpose of the series, which focuses on obscure song versions and live material from influential "alternative" artists - by creating a tribute to the label itself. So here we have Interpretations, (released in Europe as Come Again) which has "new" EMI artists paying homage to "old" EMI artists. With two discs full to sift through, it breaks down about like you'd expect: the obvious, the inspired, and the kitschy. And with three broad strokes, there it is. What do you expect when about three-quarters of the material comes from dead
-center 70s artists?The mysterious number three appears again in performers. The Americans working with UK talent and UK artists who have had the international exposure generally seem to be freer and more willing to truly interpret the artists they've chosen to cover than the newer UK artists who mainly have not even been broken in the States.
First, the obvious. Two Bowie songs, with neither artist departing too far from home (in all fairness, how could you, when Bowie was so far ahead of his time?) and White Buffalo sounds far too much like Bush for me to stomach their cover of "Ziggy Stardust" (like we needed another one...). The newer Brit talent seems far more content to hide behind their keyboards and make the pop songs so sweet you'd swear it was Prom Night all over again (Gluebound's "Where Did Our Love Go", Supernaturals' take on Queen's "You're My Best Friend" and Terrorvisions' cover of Slik's "Forever and Ever" are bound and determined to keep you in the Time Warp for all eternity) rather than do anything too daring with their influences' work. Wavering on the hairsbreadth between this category and the next are Dubstar's "Jealousy" and Feline's "The Air That I Breathe" - with the first's dance pulse slowed way down to analyze the lyrical content, and the reading on the vocals of the second bordering on obsessive, but it's hard to tell if the talent is more than skin deep here.
But onward: the truly inspired - the whole reason you want to dig through both discs - the pairings of Belinda Carlisle (yeah, her, tremulous vocals and all) and Radiator slamming through the Stranglers "Submission" and at the opposite end, Sparklehorse (featuring the incomparable Thom Yorke of Radiohead) is even more hushed and mournful than the original on Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here". Some other major high points are Mike Scott's (Waterboys) beautiful reworking of Kate Bush's "Why Should I Love You?", where he shares the aspects of an instantly recognizable voice and dreamy layered instrumentation to capture the mood perfectly. A surprising 180 degree turn by Jesus Jones has the interpretator reinventing themselves instead of the song and throwing down guitar work aplenty on the Stranglers' "Go Buddy Go". And when the Foo Fighters take a radio staple like Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street", and replace *everything* with guitars, all their chemistry burns right through the speakers. Other honorable notes go to Fun Lovin' Criminals and Robbie Williams for daring to go back more than two decades and give classy turns to Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, respectively.
We glide to the last category on flourish of Moog tones, and kitschy honors go hands down to Cecil's take on Dr. Hookšs "When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman" and White Town's eerie contemporary reading of Glen Campbellšs "Rhinestone Cowboy". Murray Lachlan Young turns the set's closer "Doo Wah Diddy Diddy" into a Monty Python number just to show he who laughs last, laughs best.
It's a lot of material to wend through, but chances are, most of you reading this are just about the right age to be okay with reliving a little bit of child- (or, well, okay, teenybopper) hood, and Intrepretations is just like twisting the tuner knob when you were big enough to be allowed in the front seat of that '72 Torino. TRACK LISTING: Disc One John Butler "Ode To Billy Joe", Belinda Carlisle & Radiator "Submission", Cecil "When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman", Dubstar "Jealousy", Feline "The Air That I Breathe", Foo Fighters "Baker Street", Fun Lovin' Criminals "We Have All The Time In The World", Gluebound "Where Did Our Love Go", Jesus Jones "Go Buddy Go", Kenickie featuring /Errol Brown "It Started With A Kiss", My Life Story "Duchess" Disc Two Octopus "Starman", Mike Scott "Why Should I Love You?", Sparklehorse with Thom Yorke "Wish You Were Here", Supernaturals "You're My Best Friend", Terrorvision "Forever & Ever", White Buffalo "Ziggy Stardust", White Town "Rhinestone Cowboy", Robbie Williams "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye", Wireless "See Emily Play", World Party "Martha My Dear", Murray Lachlan Young "Do Wah Diddy Diddy
