 |
Various
Artists
Strange As Angels: A Tribute to The
Cure
label: failure to communicate
released: 2004
our score: 2.0 out of 5.0
|
Tribute albums
are an interesting concept. Sometimes top notch artists come together
to pay tribute to an artist that has influenced their lives and
music. Other times, artists nobody has heard of get recruited
to pay tribute to a band that has influenced other bands and helped
popularized a culture. Such is the case with Strange as Angels:
A Tribute to The Cure. Seventeen bands come together to create
a varied collection of covers the yield extremely mixed results,
mostly for the worse.
First the
good: Voltaire's cover of "Lovesong" is a promising
opening to the album. It sounds just like the original and a whole
lot better than 311's recent cover. "Fascination Street"
is the best cover on the album. Purple Car add their own little
goth/electronica spin to the song without taking away the mastery
of The Cure's original. This is the only cover that actually sounds
better than the original and that is hard to do when talking about
a band that has been around as long as they have and is as talented
as they are.
Now the bad:
The Ahab Rex Trio covers "Cold" the same way that Marilyn
Manson covered "Sweet Dreams" and it's downright scary.
"Plastic Passion" is not one of The Cure's better songs
and the garage-rock band Sheriff Scabs proves why there should
never have been a cover of it. "Friday I'm In Love"
is one of The Cure's most radio-friendly songs. The lead singer
of Zalex takes every ounce of emotion out of it and makes it sound
like he would rather be making quilts from his belly-button lint.
To top that the lead singer of Hearts Fail sounds like he is trying
way too hard to be Robert Smith on their cover of "A Night
Like This" and it turns into guttural mess.
The Cure has
been around for over 25 years and a tribute album is long overdue.
However, this tribute could have been better. Yes, a couple of
the bands are able to keep the sound of the original songs while
adding their own unique sound. But the rest of the bands take
their assigned songs and butcher them.
For die-hard
Cure fans, this tribute will make their black clothing white.
It should not be called a tribute; more like a collection of covers
by little-known bands. For moderate Cure fans or people who are
looking to hear more songs by The Cure, it would be better to
take a listen to a few of the tracks before committing any money
toward it. Or better yet, just go buy an album by The Cure. It
is guaranteed to be better than this (except Purple Car's cover,
check that one out. The rest of the covers are disposable.)
03-Nov-2004
6:51 PM
If you
liked Strange As Angels: A Tribute to The Cure...
|
Tracklist:
1. Voltaire – "Love song"
2. Jupiter Blue – "A Forest"
3. The Ahab Rex Trio – "Cold"
4. Sheriff Scabs – "Plastic Passion"
5. Nerve Exhibit – "A Strange Day"
6. Garden of Dreams – "To The Sky"
7. Egostatic – "The Walk"
8. Zalex – "Friday I'm In Love"
9. Astral Grey – "The Figurehead"
10. The Scooterz – "Just Like Heaven"
11. Plugin – "The Drowning Man"
12. Purplecar – "Fascination Street"
13. Kaligare – "All Cats Are Grey"
14. Hearts Fail – "A Night Like This"
15. Venus In Furs – "Burn"
16. Ian Lund & Jeff Bruebach – "Untitled"
17. Emulsion – "Pornography"
|
|
