The syntactically-challenged SPIN 1NE 2WO may not sound familiar, but if you're over 35, the chances are one or more of their members will have rocked your world in one guise or another.
If you're still confused, then here's a hint: S12's personnel features Paul Carrack, Rupert Hine, Phil Palmer, Tony Levin and Steve Ferrone. Between 'em, they are a sessioneer's supergroup with albums and tours notched up with names like Mike & The Mechanics, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner and John Lennon. There's no knocking those achievements, of course, although this writer would personally rate Carrack's work with Squeeze and Tony Levin's work on Peter Gabriel's seminal early albums as his main points of entry to their collective musos world.
The eponymous 'Spin 1ne 2wo' album was originally released in 1993 but then deleted after a few years. It's basically that thorniest of breeds, the 'covers' album, though while that term's often enough to strike fear into the heart of the sanest music fan, you can breathe easily enough here. This is nothing like as scary as, say, Duran Duran's woeful 'Thank You'.
What it IS is a suitably efficient selection of rock covers. The execution is, naturally, ultra-proficient and virtuosic, if rather conservative in the main. It opens with a crisp, low-fat version of 'All Along The Watchtower' based entirely on the seminal Hendrix re-shaping instead of the more ragged Dylan original and this pretty much sets the tone for the album as a whole.
After all, S12'S polished versions of obvious Hard Rock staples such as Cream's 'White Room', Bad Company's 'Feel Like Makin' Love' and (a curiously uncredited) 'Black Dog' are never going to equal the seismic impact of the originals, regardless of how meticulously performed they are.These songs are by now the domain of 'tribute' acts up and down the land and it's hard enough braving these without the professionals plundering them too.
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The one major ace card Spin 1ne 2wo have is surely Paul Carrack's gorgeous voice, so it's when they choose to present him with suitable vehicles that they do affect emotional take off. By suitable vehicles, I mean predominantly the ballad-inclined tracks and thus it's their subtle and dreamy versions of Blind Faith's 'Can't Find My Way Home' and a transcendent version of Hendrix's 'Angel' which elevate the album to a higher plateau. They also deserve a mark simply for remembering the Tim Hardin songbook, though the fact Carrack treats 'Reason to Believe' with a delicacy which is heart-melting helps to re-reinforce the decision.
It's always heartening to have any album of merit back from the 'deleted' wilderness, so 'Spin 1ne 2wo' does enough to warrant at least a casual investigation. Whether Carrack's magnificent voice alone will be enough to win you over for a steep 55 minutes, however, is another matter entirely.
Voiceprint Records official site
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