From: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org (idealcopy-digest) To: idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Subject: idealcopy-digest V10 #144 Reply-To: idealcopy@smoe.org Sender: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk idealcopy-digest Tuesday, July 17 2007 Volume 10 : Number 144 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [idealcopy] 10 Surprisingly Good Tribute Albums | The A.V. Club [Thom Hei] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:49:43 -0700 From: Thom Heileson Subject: [idealcopy] 10 Surprisingly Good Tribute Albums | The A.V. Club Whore: Tribute To Wire is # 6 on the Onion A.V. Club's "10 Surprisingly Good Tribute Albums" list, recently posted: http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/10_surprisingly_good_tribute 6. Whore: Tribute To Wire Part of the problem with paying tribute to Wire is that the band made such huge stylistic jumps between records that anything covering its oeuvre is bound to feel a little schizophrenic. To its credit, Whore embraces this by letting the acts interpret the material however they see fitwhether it be Bark Psychosis' bizarre dub-jazz reading of "Three Girl Rhumba" or Mike Watt's hilariously sloppy piss-take on "The 15th"instead of filing a rote collection of sound-alikes. Naturally, letting the bands use Wire's tracks as a starting point rather than a guide means that a lot of the songs end up sounding like lost originals. Not such a bad thing when it results in such high points as Laika's gentle "German Shepherds" or Band Of Susans' creeping version of "Ahead," but it can also spotlight a lack of creativity, as illustrated by Godflesh's phoned-in murky, industrial slop on "40 Versions," Fudge Tunnel destroying all the song's tension by needlessly walloping the two-chord "Lowdown," or Lee Ranaldo's tossed-off "Fragile." However, such warts are forgivable, especially in light of the primary reason to buy this CD: My Bloody Valentine's intoxicating cover of "Map Ref. 41: N 93: W," the last track the band released, and a frustrating tease for a Loveless follow-up that still hasn't arrived. ------------------------------ End of idealcopy-digest V10 #144 ********************************