VARIOUS ARTISTS
Guilt By Association
(Engine Room)
www.engineroomrecordings.com
Though I have on occasion been "guilty" of it myself, I have tried to steer clear of the ironic cover. I don't see any reason to be ashamed of liking a song. If you like a tune, and you want to sing it, then give it all you got. The Guilt By Association compilation seems to trade off between singers taking the task to heart and the recording-studio equivalent of pathetic mugging for the camera/microphone. Among the finer cuts, Petra Haden proves that all you need is a great voice, an impeccable sense of arrangement, sincerity, and plenty of tracks. Her take on Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" is as enjoyable as her re-imagining of The Who Sell Out. Don't stop, indeed. Devendra Banhart and Noah Georgeson work up a version of Oasis's "Don't Look Back In Anger" that suggests the Tin Pan Alley fascination of Biff Rose or David Bowie. A recording of Luna doing Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" sounds like they might be having fun, but is Dean Wareham's heart in it? I hope so. Jim O'Rourke can drive me nuts sometimes, but I'll give him credit for taking a mediocre Spice Girls track ("Viva Forever") and turning it into something to which I might actually listen and enjoy. I love Will Oldham as much as Jeffery Lewis, but I don't know if that love is strong enough to appreciate his cover of Mariah Carey's "Can't Take That Away." By far, the biggest offender on the mic-mugging scale would have to be The Mooney Suzuki's uninspired cover of Cher's "Just Like Jesse James." Whereas, Geoff Farina has the right idea in his stark and intimate reading of Eddie Money's "Two Tickets to Paradise" (he and Petra Haden can fight it out over whose contribution to this comp is most compelling). Casey Shea somehow transforms System of a Down into Seals and Crofts, and for that he should be applauded. Superchunk's take on Destiny's Child's "Say My Name" suggests an indie-rock posturing that wants to boast, "We can take any crappy song and make it sound like the mid-1990s." For better or worse, they succeed. When I played Mike Watt's rendition of the BOC classic "Burning For You" for my friend, he asked, "How did Adam Sandler end up on this comp?" I shook my head because I knew he was right. Nevertheless, I admire Watt's contribution because I feel like he's doing it for the right reason--it's a good song.
-EDWARD BURCH
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