The cover version is a two-edged sword. Held correctly, it can slice through an audience, warming hearts and winning fans. But there is always the chance you’ll just end up with blood on your hands and egg on your face. The defining factor between success and failure is often in the approach. Take a song and make it your own by not respecting the original too much and breathing new life into it, and you will succeed. Pass off a lukewarm rehash of the original and it could all end in tears.
Two new albums of covers have taken the right path to success, reinterpreting new wave and dance classics respectively. Band a Part (ASP Records), the second album from Nouvelle Vague is a collection of bossa nova covers of post-punk anthems sung by female singers who had never heard the originals. This time round, Frenchman Marc Collin and his cohorts have taken on such luminary classics as The Buzzcocks’ Ever Fallen in Love, Blondie’s Heart of Glass and New Order’s Blue Monday.
Worth a special mention is the blues-piano cover of The Cramps’ Human Fly, which lacks the fierce intensity of the original but comes off sounding like something Tori Amos would have written. Another album highlight is their take on the Bauhaus vampire anthem Bela Lugosi’s Dead, which exudes a voodoo ambience that is pure delight.
Barefoot (Just Music) is a new collection of laid-back jazz covers of dance anthems. Barefoot are Sam Obernik and Tommy D and their takes on classics such as Underworld’s Born Slippy and Grandmaster Flash’s White Lines place the originals in a wholly new context. Their cover of Lazy turns the dance-floor anthem into a shuffling acoustic gem, while their interpretation of the annoying Horny brings a dog of a song back to roaring life. If you’re looking for some chill-out discs for that 4am afterparty, these just may be the ones.
ALSO ON THE SHELF
Various
1980 Forward: 4AD Celebrating 25 years (Just Music)
Any label that brought you such music luminaries as Bauhaus, The Birthday Party, The Pixies, The Breeders, Throwing Muses and TV on the Radio deserves your attention. Just to remind us of what a debt we owe to the infamous 4AD for its groundbreaking work of the past 25 years, it has released a new compilation, 1980 Forward. It features a healthy dose of past and present indie favourites, including the funky TV on the Radio with New Health Rock and the Pixies anthem Where Is My Mind?. You can listen to Nick Cave howl with his punk outfit The Birthday Party on Fears of Gun or the Mountain Goats on their album highlight See America Right. — Lloyd Gedye
Snow Patrol
Open Eyes (Universal Music)
Snow Patrol’s brand of rock has a hint of Coldplay in it, but this band would be hard done by if they were just described as another version of Chris Martin’s superband. The rock group’s breakout album, Final Straw, which sold more than two million copies, established Snow Patrol as a definite new kid on the indie rock scene to look out for. Open Eyes goes a step further, establishing Snow Patrol as a definite player. Lead singer Gary Lightbody draws you into the album with emotional yet intelligent lyrics and thoughtful melodies. Although the first hit single, You’re All I Have, sets the tone for the album, it is Chasing Cars, Open Your Eyes and Shut Your Eyes that are the defining anthems of the album. Yet, if you are looking for a new sound above the general indie scene of today, Open Eyes will probably disappoint. It is best enjoyed after a harrowing day at the office with a good glass of red wine. — Yolandi Groenewald
4 Hero
4 Hero present Brazilika (Kurse Music Distribution)
As a part of British beat innovators 4 Hero, Marc Mac can take any Godforsaken classic and flip it into a dance-floor essential for unwitting future generations. On 4 Hero Present Brazilika, he takes a more docile role, opting to sequence a selection of both remixed and untouched Brazilian breaks and bossa nova for a dance massive that has become belatedly infatuated with Brazilian iconoclast Milton Nascimento and “crazy samba” maestros Azymuth. While the whole Brazilian breaks-go-house thing seems a bit blasé these days, the brief mid-disc digression into broken beats courtesy of Bugz member Daz-I-Kue and Mac himself (Broken Samba) help keep this sweeping offering futuristic. — Kwanele Sosibo
The Secret Machines
Ten Silver Drops (Gallo)
I really tried to like this band. The atmospheric opening of Alone, Jealous and Stoned had me wondering what exactly I was in for, and for a brief while I was there riding along with their prog-rock-infused blend, loving their evident Pink Floyd affections. But then All at Once (It’s Not Important) arrived and its nothingness left me confused and beginning to question my initial reaction. By the time I arrived at the eight-minute Daddy’s in the Doldrums, I was becoming bored and slightly irritated, feeling cheated out of the last 20 minutes of my life — but worse was still to come. The album just deteriorates into a mess of half-baked songs that lack any essential X-factor, no mystery and no hooks. I expect rock bands to work a lot harder for my attention. These guys need to go back to the beginning and learn about the art of songwriting. — LG