Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 8, 1995 TAG: 9504110031
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JIM WALSH KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Well, the anticipation was better than the song. With much of North America watching, Ronstadt did a very straight, very predictable version of Tom Petty's ``The Waiting.'' When it was over, Dave slobbered all over her and I watched, wondering, ``What's the point?''
I find myself wondering that a lot, because there is lately an unprecedented glut of cover songs filling the airwaves. And since the music industry is always looking for sure-fire short-cuts to hitsville, it's a good bet we'll see plenty more. That's why what makes a good (or bad) cover demands some serious consideration and no-nonsense answers. Allow me.
As Ronstadt's ultimately forgettable take on Petty illustrates, there's a big difference between an exceptional interpretation or re-interpretation and a warmed-over rehash. On their forthcoming album ``Nemesister,'' Babes in Toyland cover ``We are Family'' by Sister Sledge. Haven't heard it yet, but I trust Babes drummer Lori Barbero when she claims that ``Nobody who has heard it can believe it's us.''
Bingo. That's one measure of a great cover. Babes, one of the noisiest femme-trios of the noisy '90s, doing a song by one of the swankiest femme-trios of the disco '70s, is a stroke of genius. By going outside their own narrow sphere for material, Babes seized the song and made it their own.
It is the first cover commandment: Thou shalt mess with people's perceptions of the artist, song, audience and world itself.
Ditto for Joan Jett and Paul Westerberg, whose marvelous mangling of Cole Porter's ``Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)'' is on the soundtrack for the new movie ``Tank Girl.'' Written in 1928 for the musical ``Paris,'' the song has been recorded by the likes of Louie Armstrong, Noel Coward, Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Eartha Kitt and Toni Tenille.
But Jett and Westerberg plow through it like a couple of hormone-happy punk rock kids. Which brings us to the second cover commandment: Thou shalt worship no artists before thee. Out of true respect to the original version, you must maul it.
``Let's Do It'' works because it is performed with plenty of connection to the sentiment (``Birds do it/bees do it ...''), but precious little reverence for the past or Porter. There are several new examples of such blissed-out blasphemy, from Jason and the Scorchers' death-rock version of John Denver's ``Take Me Home, Country Roads'' and John Cale's transformation of ``Heartbreak Hotel'' into an industrial funeral dirge to the Jayhawks' lively rethinking of Grand Funk's ``Bad Time'' and Hole's frenzied revamping of Duran Duran's ``Hungry Like the Wolf.'' And then there's Tori Amos' new-age piano-bar reading of Nirvana's ``Smells Like Teen Spirit.''
All of which adhere to cover commandment three: When reworking popular songs, thou shalt give it thine own stamp.
Unfortunately, good covers are outnumbered by bad ones - unimaginative, hollow, paint-by-numbers translations. The Crash Test Dummies' version of XTC's ``Peter Pumpkinhead'' is problematic because it was written only a few years ago and it exposes the superficiality of the Dummies' creative core as well as their inability to dig beyond their own record collections or go outside their own genre.
Green Day's cover of the Kinks' ``Tired of Waiting for You'' falls into the same category, because it serves as a reproduction, as does the Proclaimers' note-for-note reading of the Everlys' ``Bye Bye Love'' and countless others. It's not enough to unearth something as a tribute, as a way of proving knowledge of a song's existence, or to (wake me when this is over) introduce it to a new generation. It is an artist's duty to, as Patti Smith sang, ``make it mine.''
It's bad enough when the snooze button is pushed for one-off singles, but when it's an entire album, things can get really ugly. The perfectly stinky ``Encomium: A Tribute To Led Zeppelin'' features, among many other low points, Sheryl Crow doing a half-hearted ``D'yer Maker'' and Four Non-Blondes (who've never met a cover they didn't like) doing a Mr. Microphone version of ``Misty Mountain Hop.'' Both sound as if they merely took the original Zep track and phoned in the vocal.
Then there's The The's ``Hanky Panky'' (a tribute to Hank Williams), which is close to unlistenable, as is Duran Duran's latest, which offers 12 tedious covers of Duran's, y'know, heroes and musical influences like Sly, Dylan, Elvis Costello, Public Enemy, etc. The title of the CD is - get this - ``Thank You.''
Which brings us to the fourth, and last, cover commandment: Thou shalt recognize the difference between a cover and a copy. No matter how much thou reveres an artist, thou shalt not willingly and knowingly become a karaoke act in public. And above all else, before ever considering a cover, thou shalt ask thyself one question:
``What's the point?''
by CNB