In honor of its 50th anniversary, Warner Bros. Label decided to release a compilation CD that features contemporary artists covering classic tunes associated with WBR from the last 50 years. Now, as I have mentioned previously, I hate compilation albums because they generally suck. This album, "Covered: A Revolution in Sound" shows exactly why they generally suck. Before I sacrifice the artists to my chopping block, let me start by talking about the artists and songs I'll cast a safety net to.Top favorite will go to The Used's rendition of Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House." The Used delivered a balls-out personalized interpretation of the song that had some meat and girth to it. Chock-full of electonica and effects accompanied by angry, pulsing energy, the 'whogives- a-s***, lets just have fun with it' attitude makes for a surprisingly amazing track. Kudos to you boys for doing it your way. Burn this track to your iPod.
The Black Keys, whom I have trashed before for their live performance, redeemed themselves and gave a funky, bluesy, pyschodelic-infused rendition of Captain Beefheart's "Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles" which I would also recommend tossing on the iPod shuffle. Michelle Branch, who reminds me of Jewel when she covered "A Case of You" by Joni Mitchell, and Missy Higgins, who covered "More Than This" by Roxy Music both narrowly escape my guillotine blade because they have such sweet voices that it would be a shame to bloody them all up.
James Otto gave a solid performance of Van Morrison's, "Into the mystic" which is hard to do since I am a big fan of both Van Morrison and in particular, that song. It's easy to flake out and butcher the smooth rhythm of Morrison's voice but Otto was able to infuse his own interpretation while staying true to the song. Avenged Sevenfold covered "Paranoid" a Black Sabbath staple and pulled it off without a hitch. I must admit I think they stole Lemmy to cover it and didn't tell anyone and that's why I like it, but hey, that's me.
Now, down to the nitty-gritty. Mastodon brutalized and bastardized "Just Got Paid" by ZZ Top to the point that if I were them I would run over them with one of my hot rods.
Against Me! Covered "Here Comes A Regular" by The Replacements which made me want to scream and not in that head-banging kind of way. Adam Sandler needs to stick with what he knowson screen comedy and songs like "Put on your Yamaca" instead of covering Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane".
Disturbed gave a more than disappointing version of Faith No More's "Midlife Crisis" and, to round it out, the all-time worst track on the album was a five minute and fifty-five second version of Madonna's "Borderline" by The Flaming Lips with Stardeath and White Dwarfs. In the most hated of all covers, I sat through nearly six minutes of pure torture and contemplated the best method of self-inflicted deafness.
While the compilation album made me want to toss it out on the street corner, there were nuggets of bearable listening which may make it onto my iPod prior to destruction.