At best, tribute albums are hit and miss; at their worst they are a train-wreck of cherished songs, carriage after calamitously mauled carriage. I’m hoping that when Love goes on! A tribute to Grant McLennan appears, it has at least some selective repeat play potential. The Clientele will tackle ‘Orpheus beach’, while Paul Handyside of Hurrah! is attempting – with greater inherent risk – ‘Bachelor kisses’. No-one appears to have been brave or foolhardy enough as yet to take on ‘Cattle and cane’, but I guess there’s still time for someone to entertain us with that error of judgement. On the Rare Victory site you can hear what the Orchids have made of ‘Magic in here’ and no less than five competing versions of ‘Love goes on’, the winner being Private Eleanor, although I think the Bank Holidays can count themselves unlucky. Best of all on current display is ‘The Devil’s eye’ as performed by GB3 and Angie Hart. GB is Glenn Bennie who recorded with Grant in the year before he died, while Angie Hart was the singer in Frente! who worked similar magic on New Order’s ‘Bizarre love triangle’ back in 1994. The timbre of her voice is not unlike Grant’s and yet of course it has the advantage over the male interpreter of bringing something other to the song. Couple this with her perfectly judged phrasing and you have a cover that even the Clientele may struggle to better.
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July 30, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Get down Shep « Backed with
[...] down Shep While on the subject of tributes, the Manic Street Preachers have paid another to McCarthy, making good for the third time on Nicky [...]
August 27, 2007 at 7:58 pm
On Orpheus beach (and at Boston Museum of Fine Arts) « A jumped-up pantry boy
[...] Sunday, August 26th, 2007 in Music Apologies for trying to set the record for the greatest number of post titles utilising Go-Betweens songs, but The Clientele’s cover of ‘Orpheus beach’ can now be heard on the Rare victory tribute to Grant McLennan site (as previously mentioned here). [...]
September 16, 2007 at 9:30 pm
giselle
On behalf of the Rare Victory team….THANK YOU FOR SPREADING THE WORD!! Preorders are up (along with pics of the front/back of the digipak) and running and we’re all still just shaking our heads in amazement “wow…did we really get xyz artist to record this song? Seriously?! And the whole thing is as print, NOW?” It’s been a long process, we’re just in awe that it all came together and with such a breadth of musical talent participating. Not the least of which is Canada’s “Stars,” whom I challenged to record “Cattle and Cane!” So, there you have it.
It’ll be uploaded onto the page within a day or two; hope you agree that they met said challenge with verve. As to repeatability….haha, well, I might be partial, but I listen to my early copies of the songs and then various versions of track listings on an almost daily basis, and each time it means something else, I hear something else….hope you enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed being part of this process! And, again….thanks for spreading the word!
Cheers,
giselle