In an interview, Austin Carson, who is YYY, talked about being inspired by the same Phil Spector “wall of sound” that inspired Brian Wilson, but for most of the album (and all the songs from Pet Sounds itself) he never really achieves that. Where he succeeds is not in the wall, but more in the corners, the subtleties where his… Read more »
The label is not kidding when they call themselves the Reverberation Appreciation Society. Most tracks on the album are the Nigel Tufnel amp versions of reverb (“These go to 11.”). You’d probably be hard-pressed to find a mid-sixties pop song that didn’t work with a little more echo, so the results are mostly listenable. It’s when the bands go beyond… Read more »
Cover albums are pretty common despite being a difficult feat to pull off. Really, it’s not simple to cover a single song, let along a whole album of them with most being in the generic style of a genre rather than a band. Saxon’s Inspirations is the latest attempt to sell records by regurgitating the band’s influences. Despite the band… Read more »
Label: The Secret of Life Records Released: June 24, 2008 The Violent Femmes return the favor to Gnarls Barkley (who covered “Gone Daddy Gone” on 2006’s St Elsewhere) with this EP containing a cover of “Crazy.” The trouble with Gnarls Barkley’s offering was that it left the song entirely too intact. It sounds fine, but simply does too little to… Read more »
Label: Rhino Released: November 13, 2007 A cover here and there isn’t a bad thing and often playing covers helps a band know itself. But there’s a big difference between the occasional cover that pops up on an album or a live set and releasing a whole album of someone else’s songs. This trend, similar to the current trend of… Read more »
I found this link in a comment over at Imagine Echoes. A band called Mason Proper covered Pink Floyd’s cult classic “Bike.” Whether you love or hate the cover, it does do everything that a cover should. It’s true enough to the original that the song is recognizable, yet the band clearly stamps it as their own. You can download… Read more »
Label: Mystic Records Released: 1985 Punk covers albums are a dime a dozen these days, but back in 1985 this album was a pretty good novelty. Twenty mostly fine efforts were committed to vinyl under the tag line, “Our favorite bands mutilate your favorite songs.” How true that was. Some of the covers are typical choices and some are more… Read more »
Label: Virgin Released: June 26, 2007 One would think that an accomplished artist who dedicates an entire album to covering another single artist must be both enamored and well-versed in his or her subject. An all-Dylan Bryan Ferry release might sound a bit odd considering that Dylan speaks to our hearts in warm, organic imperfections while Ferry speaks in cold,… Read more »
Sometimes two people collaborate on a song and record it with their respective bands. Usually, one is far more successful than the other. These don’t qualify as covers since the songwriters are the performers in both cases. They’re just collaborations that were recorded apart rather than together. Off the top of my head, I can think of three: “China Girl”… Read more »
Metal Mark had a post about covers and Jeff had one about tribute albums, so I thought I’d get in on the act and post a list of some of my favorite covers. Slayer – “In-a-gadda-da-vida” – Slayer does an amazing job with this Iron Butterfly classic. They trim it down to a manageable length and turn it from trippy… Read more »