Posted on: March 8, 2010 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 1

Two things are true in music: first off, when a band does a covers disc, it will almost always suck (Tori Amos’ “Strange Little Girls”, the Smoking Popes’ “Party’s Over” are two key examples, and secondly, One Little Indiana are masters at putting out weak albums, including Fluke and Sandy Dillon this last year. Now, even with both of these facts in play, The Twilight Singers fight valiantly in trying to make “She Loves You” into a decent album. The Twilight Singer’s rendering of Bjork’s “Hyperballad” is an ultimate whitewash of the original, changing something revolutionary into an inspired track reminiscent of U2. By far, the biggest outrage with “She Loves You” is the Manson-esque rending of “Strange Fruit”. Not that it sounds like Marilyn Manson in any general way, it is just the trashing of one of the best tracks to be cut in popular American music. The distortion added onto the track muddies up what was a crystal clear polemic against lynching; now it is a self-indulgent track in which a Dylan-esque Dulli likes to hear the sound of eir own voice.

The unabashed U2 impression continues unabated through Dulli’s ode to Fleetwood Mac, eir cover of “What Makes You Think You’re The One”. Bland guitars play behind a set of vocals that are half-heartedly sung by Dulli. The track is catchy on some vacuous and shallow level, not unlike the average tripe excreted by Dave Matthews or the aforementioned U2, but has nothing impressive either in terms of arrangements or virtuosity to appear to true music fans. One thing that can be said about the average fare on “She Loves You”, and that with each and every track, Dulli completely shucks the track’s context and general sound for the same pop-radio feel, in a move not unlike what those individuals that translate popular songs into muzak do. “Real Love” is a perfect example of that, and damned if it isn’t catchy, but it just is a more upbeat and uptempo version of some of the average sound to be found on “She Loves You”.

“She Loves You” was surviving in that Greg Dulli and The Twilight Singers have made each track into their own image. Sure, “Strange Fruit” is a dark day for the act, but the tracks are rendered in a way that they could go on the radio in a second’s notice and most listeners would assume that The Twilight Singers were the ones that wrote and arranged the track. While my biggest complaint is that there isn’t enough derivation from the basic formula that Greg and The Twilight Singers created for this album, this may be the first one-band cover CD that is actually tolerable.

Top Tracks: A Love Supreme, Real Love

Rating: 5.9/10

Greg Dulli’s Twilight Singers – She Loves You / 2004 One Little Indian / 11 Tracks / http://www.thetwilightsingers.com / http://www.onelittleindian-us.com / Reviewed 12 November 2004

1 people reacted on this

  1. The Smoking Popes’ “Party’s Over” sucks? Really? I think it’s actually one of their best records and I’ve been a fan of the band since the early 90’s. Thanks for reminding me to pull it out and listen again!

Leave a Comment