It’s a well known fact that I’m a cover song whore. I might be the only person in LA that has all of the Johnny Cash American Recordings, all of the Me First and The Gimme CDs, and this week insisted on purchasing Scratch My Back, the new Peter Gabriel CD. Yes it is true that I haven’t listened to a Peter Gabriel CD since Lloyd Dobler lifted a moderately sized boombox with cartoonish supersonic range to win back the love of Diane Court, but if he’s putting out an album’s worth of covers then I’m putty in his hands. Digging into the tracks I have to say it is a bit lacking. That’s not to say that the choices are uninspired because that couldn’t be further from the case. Gabriel chose some amazing songs from such favorites as Bon Iver (“Flume”), The Arcade Fire (“My Body is a Cage”), and The Magnetic Fields (“The Book of Love”). It’s the approach that was taken that bothers me. In stripping away the drums and the guitars, Gabriel turned these songs into self serving flat whisperfests with nothing behind them. There’s no heart. No soul. What Gabriel must not have understood is that the science of a good cover is to take the opportunity to honor the source material while completely re-inventing it, making it your own in a way that people will recognize its source but, if done properly, they’ll appreciate it more than the original. It is a tough feat, but a goal that one should aspire to. This approach has worked in the past as a launching pad for people like Gary Jules (“Mad World”), Jeff Buckley (“Hallelujah”), and Cat Power (“I Found a Reason”). By leaving the heart of these tracks in place and giving them a makeover these artists forever took ownership of the songs. Trent Reznor himself will tell you that “Hurt” now belongs to Johnny Cash forever. I doubt Thom Yorke will be saying that about Peter Gabriel’s spin on “Street Spirit”.
Clearly I’m bitter for wasting the money.
Worry not my loyal readers. My sad feelings quickly subsided when I was sent an advance copy of LA’s own Robotanists’ forthcoming EP Shapes and Variations. Where Peter Gabriel failed, the Robotanists succeed. Like I said earlier it is very rare when a cover song surpasses the original. Amazingly enough on their upcoming EP the Robotanists manage to pull off this trick seven times. Seven times they reinvent a popular song. Seven times they take ownership of the covered material. I hate to give someone overflowing credit, but not only do they take ownership but they do it with songs that are part of the popular zeitgeist. It’s as if they shouted out “Hey Gabriel, it’s one thing to cover Bon Iver’s “Flume” but try covering Jay Z’s “Empire State of Mind.” It takes balls to do that..and balls are what the Roboantists have. Balls and beautiful lead vocals. Judging from the songs selected (“Empire State,” “Are You Really Going Out With Him,” “Dance Dance Dance,” “Heaven”) one would think that the band was challenged to make the most overplayed songs listen-able again. They rose to the challenge and then some.
“Empire” is given a unique softer, less bragadocious heart with an LA spin, making it a completely different song (one renamed “Exiled State of Mind”). Joe Jackson’s classic gets a gender bend and couldn’t sound sexier. “Dance, Dance, Dance” is reworked to the point if you didn’t know any better you’d assume Lykke Li was covering them. Seriously go compare the two. Did I mention they also cover Bryan Adams’ “Heaven?” They exude a sexiness on “Heaven” that made me sure If I had it in my arsenal instead of Bryan Adams’ version I definitely would have gotten to 2nd base at that middle school dance back in the day. If i had to pick one stand out it would have to be the amazing version of “Never Tear Us Apart.” After one spin my mind was made up – they owned this song. Sorry Michael Hutchinson and co…The Robotanists made it theirs through and through. Don’t fret, you still have “Suicide Blonde”…for now.
I was so enamored with these covers I searched out the band’s myspace and found out that beyond these covers their original material is top notch as well. You can stream their EP of original material here. Check out “Wait a Minute Here”. It rocks. Like I said I’m a sucker for covers. Bands know that. That’s why they use them. Rope the people in with familiarity and then throw your new original stuff at them before they know whats hit them. In the end that’s the job of the cover song right? Well done cover songs.
Good job Robotanists.
Piss poor job Peter Gabriel.
Note: if you still haven’t gotten your cover fix yet then scroll down to the last track. Yeah, they cover Foreigner. You’re welcome.
A limited numbered quantity of physical copies of Shapes and Variations will be pressed and can currently be pre-ordered for only $5 here. Shapes and Variations is scheduled for an April (available on iTunes April 6th) release date, more info will be coming soon.
Robotanists’ cover of “Heaven” can also be found on UNCOVERING A CURE, an album of covers featuring up-and-coming artists (Sabrosa Purr, Vanaprasta, Oh Darling, Castro, etc.) that benefits Aids Project LA (APLA). UNCOVERING A CURE will be released March 30th at The Roxy in Hollywood, CA, where Robotanists are scheduled to perform. Click here for more details.
For more information on Robotanists and their upcoming shows visit their official site.
