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Expectations… they'll get you almost every time. Sometimes,
even if you expect to expect the unexpected, that's when you'll
get exactly what was originally expected. So you should neither
expect the expected nor expect the unexpected. Just don't "expect"
at all, and you'll probably be alright.
I had quite a specific expectation about the Singles Ward soundtrack,
and am very glad to say that it was quite wrong. When it first came
out someone described it as "punk versions of primary songs",
and I caught a clip of one of the tracks online, which fit that
description, and I was not really enthused to hear any more. It
wasn't that I don't like punk (or pop punk), or punk covers, or
that I consider the genre blasphemous to the material or anything
like that... In fact, as it turns out, my favorite track from The
Singles Ward soundtrack is Slender's punk version of "The Battle
Hymn of the Republic" (more about that later). But I've always
thought that punk covers of songs were a cheap way to do a new version
of something; bring the tempo up, play everything with dirty two
string power chords, and cop a punk attitude on the vocals. The
first time I heard someone do that, I was all, "Cool!"
But by the third or fourth song it was more like, "Okay, you
play Beatles and Bee Gees and Dexy's Midnight Runners, but as punk
songs… Whoop-de-do." It's a novelty and gimmick, and has
its place for that, but doesn't really have much more musical life
or meaning to it than something like having a dog bark as accompaniment
on a song. Ahem.
So uh, anyway… When the Singles Ward soundtrack came across
my desk for review (yup, I even have me a desk for this!), I wasn't
all that thrilled, expecting fake British accents galore (did I
mention that's a big pet peeve of mine?) and track after track of
pimply teenage angst running rampant over primary songs. Yes, there
is some of that seeping through now and then, but there is also
much more, and thankfully my expectation was mostly dead wrong about
this. I am really enjoying this album, and even the few tracks that
do fit the punk cover milieu that I was expecting are done very
well and fit nicely within the whole.
The CD starts with a brief, Weezer-esque version of "The Church
of Jesus Christ" by Magstatic and then goes into "Come,
Come Ye Saints" by Slender, which starts off with some thick,
soap opera organ and muted guitar, then blasts into a heavier Ramones
cop, which actually captures the joyful spirit of the words rather
well. Singer Rod Dammit (he would change that to Dangit, but then
it wouldn't be punk enough, eh?) is thankfully not copping a fake
British accent, but he is definitely channeling the ghost of Joey
Ramone on this one. I'll forgive him for that, though, because the
song has a great energy to it.
Next up is a version of "There is Sunshine in My Soul Today",
by Ponchillo, which features some nice acoustic guitars set off
against some vibrato-delayed electric. This falls somewhere between
Johnny Cash and something Beck might do. "Do What is Right"
by MisMash has a heavy low-end acoustic guitar riff setting up some
spacey vocals by female singers Prynne and E.V. The funk riffing
on this track would be at home on a Red Hot Chili Peppers album,
and vocally this reminds me of the Breeders, No Doubt and that "Groove
is in the Heart" song (remember that one?). At 4:20 and with
a couple of false endings, it goes on a bit long, but it's not like
time spent getting your teeth scraped at the dentist's, or something
like that.
"Popcorn Popping" is a very cool house, reggae vibe by
Kent Carter and Rooster. "Book of Mormon" stories by Pipedream
may be a total Primus rip-off, but again, the genre chosen really
fits the material well, and it's strangely refreshing to hear this
kind of music in the context of lyrics mentioning Samuel the Lamanite
and company.
Other highlights (not that there are any lowlights) include "In
Our Lovely Deseret" by the whisper-singing Mr. Fusion, with
a vibe straight out of a David Lynch soundtrack; "Keep the
Commandments", a folky pop number by Mighty Mahogany which
reminds me of that thing they did in That Thing You Do, and it could
also have been a hit in glorious nine part harmony for the New Main
Street Singers from A Mighty Wind; "I Feel My Savior's Love"
as a pretty acoustic ballad, also by Mismash; and the aforementioned
"Battle Hymn of the Republic" by Slender, which really
kicks into high gear and features Mr. Dangit [name edit produced
by "Clean Reviews", the new technology that Mormonizes
questionable content in LDS CD reviews] no longer with a Joey Ramone
voice, but sounding like a cross between Billy Idol (I can even
picture the goofy lip sneer!), Henry Rollins and that husky voiced
brother on Everyone Loves Raymond. It's a really terrific voice
for this kind of music, so I hope Rod opts for this more often than
the Joey Ramone cop. Extra points on this track for the "Rapper's
Delight" nod in the middle break! "God Be With You Till
We Meet Again" by Jamen Brooks closes out the album with a
mellow groove and some interesting vocal harmonies. I thought that
name sounded familiar, and sure enough I complained about Jamen
sounding like a breathy John Mayer clone in his song for the Pride
and Prejudice soundtrack, but in this song he actually sings out
most of the time and it's quite good.
All told, an excellent production by Simon True and frank g (who
is currently suffering from the rare "e.e. cummings lowercase
name syndrome"), and a superb job at producing fresh versions
of these songs, without sounding cliched about it. Certainly, my
expectations were far exceeded.
****
½ (four and a half stars out of five)
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Eric
Endres
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