IN REVIEW
Similar to Hakeem Olajuwon and eggs, the cover song is an institution unfairly maligned due to recent history. But who’s to blame?
It would be easy to point fingers. Alien Ant Farm and Orgy, your hands are unclean, stained with murderous blood by killing the Reagan-era hits “Smooth Criminal” and “Blue Monday.” When bands are grinding it out on the road each day just to get by, much less break into the big time, you have the audacity (read: marketing savvy) to simply duplicate a past hit?
Yes, cover songs, like Hakeem on the Toronto Raptors and eggs without the yolk, your pleasure is diminishing with every draft pick, every cholesterol fanatic and every Orange County punk band covering “Take on Me.”
Like “The Dream’s” fade away with the Houston Rockets, covers have a beautiful history. Who can count the Dylan songs that the Byrds, Hendrix and others covered, blending the original poetry and music with their own specific appeal that rivaled, or even surpassed, the original? After all, the cover song is a quadratic function, consisting of the covered artist, the coverer, the original song, and the resulting song, and when a cover is successful, all four aspects are positively illuminated.
The recently released soundtrack to the feature film “I Am Sam” banks on current popular artists reinterpreting Beatles’ classics, probably because the studio didn’t have the bank to secure the rights of the original songs. And although the concept is intriguing, the risk is high. Yes, everyone loves Lennon and McCartney tunes, but everyone also loves the way they were originally played. Covering the Beatles is like repainting Monet’s lillypads: How can you do so without being obviously displayed as the weaker artist?
Unfortunately, the majority of covers on “I Am Sam,” are just that, thinly veiled glimpses at the dullness of the covering artists. I guess some were to be expected. The Wallflowers take on “I’m Looking Through You” is neither offensive nor enjoyable. In fact, it’s nothing. Jakob Dylan’s vocals are wispy, rather like the annoying breeze blowing napkins off your table. Likewise, Heather Nova’s “We Can Work it Out” sounds like a competent wedding band. Regrettably, promising artists like Ben Harper and the Black Crowes contribute similarly dull performances.
Although the majority of the covers are faithful, a few artists liberally alter melodies and arrangements. Although Grandaddy valiantly tries to make “Revolution” a song that would sound appropriate on one of its albums, the arrangement ends up being too flimsy to drive the powerful lyrics. On the other hand, Chocolate Genius adds a touch of soul and electricity to the Beatles meditative classic “Julia,” and somehow it works.
Alas, a few artists successfully infuse their own personal style and passion into these classics. The Vines eschew the raga of “I’m Only Sleeping” for straightforward Matthew Sweet rock elation. Ben Folds’ “Golden Slumbers” reveals Folds as a Beatles fanatic, sounding as comfortable and confessional here as he does on his own ballads. Lastly, Nick Cave’s “Let It Be” may actually be better than the Beatles’ classic, substituting the Beatles’ orchestral bombast with an appropriately restrained arrangement that actually sounds contented.
Nonetheless, “I am Sam” disappointingly offers up great songs that defy all odds by sounding uninspired and lackluster.
— Review by Paul Bost, based on five stars.
March 14, 2002