Under the Covers Vol. 2
# of spins (out of 5):
This is Vol. 2 in the Sweet/Hoffs collaborative Under the Cover series, and I am officially excited about their future ventures. The first one focused on their favorite music from the sixties, and this one focuses on the seventies. And as before, their song selection is surprising but reasonable…no real classic rock standards, but nothing too far left of the classic rock radio dial, either.
Their voices were meant to sing together, they weave lavish vocals around the melodies of the songs that you love but would never think to remeber. It might sound odd, but they do a very strong version of Grateful Dead’s “Sugar Magnolia” – with a slicing guitar part that does The Dead justice and makes it impossible for even the staunchest of Deadheads to criticize.
Sweet and Hoffs vocal interplay dwarfs that of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks when it comes to their version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Second Hand News”. But when you hit their glorious renditions of Eric Clapton’s “Bell Bottom Blues”, Mott the Hoople’s “All the Young Dudes”, and Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” back-to-back-to-back – you can’t help but think, “there’s no way they can top that run of searing covers.” And alas, it is. It crescendos with those, and while everything here is strong, nothing quite measures up after that. Save for inspired tracks like Yes’ “I’ve Seen All Good People: Your Move/All Good People”, John Lennon’s “Gimme Some Truth”, Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May” (Hoff’s whiskey growl on this is enigmatic), and George Harrison’s “Beware of Darkness”.
Ultimately at sixteen songs, there are just too many for all of them to be as good as this album is at its best. I would say, scratch the Todd Rundgren and Bread songs all together, and perhaps pick a different Little Feat tune (“Sailin’ Shoes” instead of “Willin’” maybe?) and this album would have been as classic as the songs on it. Regardless, this does not foil my excitement for their future endeavors – hopefully they’ll follow this all the way through with Vol. 3 being full of 80’s songs, Vol. 4 being filled with 90’s songs, Vol. 5 picking through what's decent of the new millennium, and maybe throw in a Vol. 6 that dips all the way back to the 50’s – I don’t mean to plot their careers out for them or anything…but as a fan I would LOVE to see this trajectory.
# of spins (out of 5):
This is Vol. 2 in the Sweet/Hoffs collaborative Under the Cover series, and I am officially excited about their future ventures. The first one focused on their favorite music from the sixties, and this one focuses on the seventies. And as before, their song selection is surprising but reasonable…no real classic rock standards, but nothing too far left of the classic rock radio dial, either.
Their voices were meant to sing together, they weave lavish vocals around the melodies of the songs that you love but would never think to remeber. It might sound odd, but they do a very strong version of Grateful Dead’s “Sugar Magnolia” – with a slicing guitar part that does The Dead justice and makes it impossible for even the staunchest of Deadheads to criticize.
Sweet and Hoffs vocal interplay dwarfs that of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks when it comes to their version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Second Hand News”. But when you hit their glorious renditions of Eric Clapton’s “Bell Bottom Blues”, Mott the Hoople’s “All the Young Dudes”, and Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” back-to-back-to-back – you can’t help but think, “there’s no way they can top that run of searing covers.” And alas, it is. It crescendos with those, and while everything here is strong, nothing quite measures up after that. Save for inspired tracks like Yes’ “I’ve Seen All Good People: Your Move/All Good People”, John Lennon’s “Gimme Some Truth”, Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May” (Hoff’s whiskey growl on this is enigmatic), and George Harrison’s “Beware of Darkness”.
Ultimately at sixteen songs, there are just too many for all of them to be as good as this album is at its best. I would say, scratch the Todd Rundgren and Bread songs all together, and perhaps pick a different Little Feat tune (“Sailin’ Shoes” instead of “Willin’” maybe?) and this album would have been as classic as the songs on it. Regardless, this does not foil my excitement for their future endeavors – hopefully they’ll follow this all the way through with Vol. 3 being full of 80’s songs, Vol. 4 being filled with 90’s songs, Vol. 5 picking through what's decent of the new millennium, and maybe throw in a Vol. 6 that dips all the way back to the 50’s – I don’t mean to plot their careers out for them or anything…but as a fan I would LOVE to see this trajectory.
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