Was 1987 a classic year for music? It doesn’t ring that many bells. Still, Lancashire label Filthy Little Angels feel there is something worth commemorating twenty years on in this new collection of covers by bands who have caught their eye. The remit for bands was to make new recordings of songs now two decades old, and naturally the results vary.
The bands chose the covers themselves, and that perhaps tells you a little bit about them. For the casual listener surrounded in seemingly more music than ever thanks to Myspace, this is an interesting concept. You get an overview of many bands without being bombarded with a plethora of completely new songs. Thus you wonder whether people are meant to walk away having enjoyed a whole compilation, or whether they are meant to celebrate a clutch of new discoveries.
Wojtek Godzisz commence proceedings ominously with a cover of The Smiths ‘A Rush and a Push’ which leaves you double checking that you haven’t clicked on the original by mistake. They are shown up later on by The Black Tulips, who turn ‘Shoplifters of the World Unite’ into a swirling, epic, dark masterpiece. Other songs barely resonate, either by sticking too close to the original, or deviating a little too far away. Efforts from Beacons, Black Kites and The Odd Fiddler seem pointless and uninspired. But the highlights go some way to make up for this, and the laws of compilations suggest that you can’t please everyone all of the time.
The key to success, it would seem, is staying relatively faithful to the original, whilst putting your own unique spin on it. This is evident with The Fountain’s lo-fi rendition of Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ (it’s possible even Bill Hicks would have approved), The Star Fighter Pilot’s ‘1963,’ which sees New Order drenched in Faint-esque angst to satisfying effect. Geese make The Pet Shop Boys seem positively butch with their cover of a ‘It’s A Sin,’ but it’s a rendition that raises a smile and taps a foot. If Shisho sound like their cover of ‘True Faith’ is being sung by eight year olds, it’s because it is. Knowing this makes it downright creepy.
|
The over-riding theme of the album is the influence of the eighties, plus that of the eighties revival. You hear elements of the newer electronica bands seeping through many of the tracks, and this is perhaps an honest appraisal of that scene’s influence in recent years. Scene-supporters and scene-cynics will both walk away from this project with something to say.
As a whole, this is an interesting way to introduce new bands to people; getting an idea of what their about, whilst on the familiar territory of songs you’ve probably heard before. Filthy Little Angels seems like an apt name There is merit to a project like this; it doesn’t fall into the valedictory back-slapping that many label compilations turn out to be, and even the most cynical listener will walk away with at least three points of interest. It is down to the individual who they will be. If this were the start of an annual showcase, well, there are worse ways to hear ‘new’ music…
(FREE TO DOWNLOAD - filthylittleangels.blogspot.com/)
|
