REVIEW: Various Artists, Burning London - The Clash Tribute (Epic) /
Various Artists, A Tribute To Erasure (Hypnotic)
- Bob Gajarsky
Two of the more significant bands of the alternative music scene were the Clash and Erasure. While the Clash brought out the punk in many, Erasure brought 'coming out' to a new extreme. The contrast between the bands, as well as the tributes, represent extremes in the modern rock spectrum.
While Americans were no doubt influenced by the group's punk ethic, The Clash were first and foremost a product of the 1970s British environment. Therefore, it comes as quite a surprise that there are no British (!) bands (with the exception of Billy Idol's guest vocals on one track) present on this major label tribute to the Clash.
The Idol track - "Hateful", in which he provides backing vocals to complement No Doubt and Gwen Stefani - is one of two tracks that actually works. No Doubt's SoCal-version of the Clash cut has enough twists from the original, with enough of a hook to keep the listener interested. Ice Cube and Mack 10 rap to "Should I Stay Or Should I Go", which samples the original - but *this* is something the Clash would approve of. Guts, spunk, and an in-your-face attitude pervade this song, holding almost no similarities to the original - but showing the same spirit the Clash held nearly 20 years earlier.
Unfortunately, the rest of the cuts range the spectrum of "bad" - whether poorly executed (311), unoriginal (The Urge), or losing any of the biting edge (Indigo Girls) which made the Clash a major influence on a generation. Probably the greatest travesty on the disc is Third Eye Blind's pasteurization - just as Pat Boone did to black America in the 1950s - of the Clash's "Train In Vain". Although this track was one of the few bones the Clash could toss the pop world, 3EB tries to use this as their entrance into the alternative world. Sorry, try again.
The best part of this project? Profits from the sale of this disc will go to The Children's Hospital of Los Angeles' High Risk Youth Program. The proper reason to buy this disc might be as a tax writeoff.
A Tribute to Erasure employs bands unknown except to the hardest core synthpop fans, with greater results. Although these artists stay more faithful to the original tracks (and are unable to necessarily reach Andy Bell's expanded vocal range), the complete package is much easier to digest.
Nova's techno/euro-disco twist of "Oh L'Amour" - with an appropriate increase in BPMs - could pack the dancefloors in clubs that consider Erasure's original (or even Dollar's cover) too dated. On Element's take of "A Little Respect", the lead singer sings in a low-key, quiet fashion which runs counter-intuitive to Andy Bell's original - yet still works marvelously, not unlike a comparison between KLF's ambient or pulsating versions of "3 AM Eternal".
Female vocals offer a welcome change of pace from the Bell-soundalikes; Con-cept's "Breath Of Life" offers a throwback to the Yaz(oo) days of Alison Moyet, while Sometimes Me's "Always" and I.O.U.'s "Love To Hate You" maintain the hummable, dancable sound which seemingly always accompany Erasure's songs.
While A Tribute To Erasure may not offer up any surprises - or draw in any new fans to synthpop - it targets the core of Erasure's loyal fans. Those fans should be quite pleased with the results of this compilation.
