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Come taste a change for the better.
Artists reinterpret songs on cover albums
Music Review
By ROB NEWBERRY
Red, Hot & Blue: A Tribute to
Cole Porter
Chrysalis
Where the Pyramid Meets the
Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson
Sire/Warner Bros.
Rubaiayt: Elektra’s 40th Anniver
sary
Elektra
The best music for any party is
cover songs. Somebody thinks they
know who’s about to sing one of
their favorite songs, then all of a
sudden another person’s voice
comes out of the speaker. Just in
time for the post-finals Christmas
parties, three new releases feature
nothing but covered material.
Red, Hot, Sc Blue: A Tribute to
Cole Porter from Chrysalis features
the most popular line-up of artists.
Produced to benefit AIDS research
and relief, the disc lets each artist re-
E roduce one of Cole Porter’s many
roadway hits. The fun part is listen
ing to how they do it.
Cover songs can stand out in three
ways. The artist can switch from his
or her own style to the style intended
for the original, or they can adapt
the original to their own style. Or, as
in the case of U2 or Erasure, they
can ditch both the original and their
own style and just experiment.
Annie Lennox and Aztec Camera
do the best at recreating Porter’s
original jazzy feel with “Everytime
We Say Goodbye” and “Do I Love
You.” But it’s difficult for rock art
ists to reproduce the feeling in Por
ter’s music when they switch styles,
and Sinead O’Conner’s “You Do
Something To Me” and Jody Wat-
ley’s “After You Who” fail dread
fully.
On the other hand, adapting Por
ter’s music to today gives the per
former a chance to show his own cre
ativity. Debbie Harry and Iggy Pop
team up for “Well Did You Evah?”
for a satiric attack on excess, and
Kristy MacColl and the Pogues redo
“Miss Otis Regrets/Just One of
Those Things” to fit their own Irish
folk sound. David Byrne’s “Don’t
Fence Me In” is nothing special,
though, and neither is the Thomp
son Twins’ “Who Wants To Be A
Millionaire.”
But the highlights are U2’s “Night
& Day” and Erasure’s “Too Darn
Hot.” Both these numbers are com
pletely reworked from the original,
but they’re not representative of the
bands’ usual styles either. U2 uses
synthesizers and drum machines to
make a new dance track (yeah, a real
dance track from U2), and Erasure
backs off its normal keyboard-heavy
style for a trip toward reggae-land.
After pleading insanity to a mari
juana possession charge and spend
ing four years in the Hospital for the
Criminally Insane, Roky Erickson
returned to society to provide some
of the more “disturbed” music of the
’70s. The new Sire/Warner Bros, re
lease Where the Pyramid Meets the
Eye allows Erickson’s biggest fans,
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other musicians, to reinterpret his
music.
Pyramid features a long list of al
ternative music greats, and most of
the artists do a good job bringing
Erickson’s music back through their
own style. Some of the bands on the
record don’t really change Erick
son’s style that much, but they don’t
have to — they were out there al
ready.
Highlights on the disc include
Bongwater’s rendition of “You Don’t
Love Me Yet” and T-Bone Burnett’s
cover of “Nothing in Return”. Doug
Sahm & Sons rock on “You’re
Gonna Miss Me”, and ZZ Top opens
the record with a ripping version of
“Reverberation (doubt),” although I
like the Jesus and Mary Chain’s ver
sion that closes the album better.
The album still has its weak spots,
although the problems aren’t as glar
ing as the Red, Hot & Blue failures.
Julian Cope doesn’t do a whole lot
with “I Have Always Been Here Be
fore,” and neither do John Wesley
Harding and the Good Liars on “If
You Have Ghosts.”
Pyramid features new music from
R.E.M., the Butthole Surfers, Sister
Double Happiness and the Judybats,
among others. An alternative cover
collection couldn’t have featured a
much better honoree than Erickson,
and it couldn’t have used a better
lirie-up of bands.
Elektra Records celebrates its 40th
sic. Some of the remakes should be
classics themselves,
anniversary with the double-disc
cover compilation RubaiySt. Elektra
picked 38 of its artists to remake
some of the classic songs that ap
peared on the label’s 40 years of mu-
Some bands enjoy reveling in a
little irreverence and freedom when
they do covers, and the attitude adds
a nice bit of originality to old
material. This record still has all the
balls of a drunken performance, but
at least the guys at the sound board
were sober — everything sounds
great.
RubciiySt opens with a rocking
version of the Doors’ classic “Hello, I
Love You” performed by the Cure.
Not all the songs are as well known,
though — the Pixies have some fun
with the Paul Butterfield Blues
Band’s “Born In Chicago,” and the
Sugarcubes tear through Sailcat’s
“Motorcycle Mama” like they were
jamming at a Hell’s Angels conven
tion,
Experimentation is a big part of
the Elektra release. Billy Bragg per
forms “Seven and Seven Is,” but
most listeners wouldn’t guess that it
actually is Bragg who is performing.
The Gipsy Kings throw in the Ea
gles’ “Hotel California” done en
tirely in Spanish except forthed*
rus, and Ernie Isley’s version oftl
Cars’ “Let’s Go” turns the numii
into a party disco track.
Other kick-ass spots on thealbi
include Faster Pussycat’s remake
“You’re So Vain” and Metallic
spinoff of the Queen tune “Sto
Cold Crazy.” The Big F alsopitct
in the MC5 classic “Kick Quit
Jams.”
RubAiyAt slows down in a It
places, too. Tracy Chapman's cov
of “House of the Rising Sun ”and
vetta Steele’s rendition of “I’d L
to Teach the World to Sing” re;
the album a little. Natalie Mercte
voice is as soothing as ever
10,000 Maniac’s version of Jack 1
Browne’s “These Days.”
This new Elektra release ai
brings new material from T1
Might Be Giants, Teddy Pend:
grass, the Georgia Satellites, Lit
Rondstadt and Howard Jones. B
line-up is diverse, but just aboutf
erything on the record has its men
Of all three releases, Rubanan
the topper. Alternative fans *i
likely enjoy the band list on
Erickson tribute better, but song
ter song of one artist’s material
get stale — the same goes for ft
Hot & Blue. But Elektra put a
more effort into their 40th birtbi
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Dances With Wolves excites, enthralls
Film Review
By JULIA SPENCER
They sure don’t make ’em like they used to
and, in the case of Dances With Wolves — the
lengthy (three hours plus) revisionist western
starring and also directed by Kevin Costner, it’s a
good thing.
The film is a loving and personal tribute to the
glory days of the Old West before it was “won.”
Dances With Wolves succeeds as exciting and ut
terly enthralling entertainment, as a glorious
spectacle and as a serious, pro-environment, pro-
Native American message film.
Michael Blake’s carefully researched screen
play based on his novel does justice to Native
Americans. The movie does away with the one
dimensional, stone-faced Hollywood Indians of
yesteryear who frequently were depicted as mur
derous, drunken, thieving savages with vocabula
ries limited to “How” and “Ugh.” White actors in
wigs usually portrayed these stereotypical
images.
The Sioux Indians central to Dances With
Wolves are fully developed characters. Their lan
guage and culture vividly come to life on screen
with the help of English subtitles, designer Elsa
Zamparelli’s beautiful costumes and fine perfor
mances of Native American actors.
This beautiful film was shot during a period of
five months in South Dakota last year and stun
ningly photographed by Dean Semler.
Dances With Wolves focuses on white Union
officer Lt. John Dunbar (Costner) as he becomes
an accidental hero in a Tennessee battle and re
quests the Army’s westernmost post because he
wants to “see the frontier before it’s gone.” The
ultimate truth of this statement adds to the some
what wistful and nostalgic tone of this fin de sid-
cle opus, as we watch the Sioux’s heroic efforts to
survive the onslaughts of “civilization” and the
decimation of the buffalo.
Dunbar gradually overcomes his fear and dis
trust of the tribe, befriends the Indians, learns
their language and customs and adopts their
dress. During this transition, the audience sees
the initially savage and terrifying warriors as fa
thers, mothers, brothers, lovers and friends.
Dunbar’s love for a white woman (Mary Mc
Donnell) brought up as a Sioux after she was or
phaned during a Pawnee raid, makes him truly
one of them. This inspires him to risk his life
fighting their battles.
The largely anecdotal story unfolds as a series
of Dunbar’s journal entries, but what anecdotes!
Whether staring down Indian scouting parties
while wearing only his birthday suit, (Here’s your
big chance, Costner fans!) or befriending and ca
vorting with wolves (thus his Indian name and
the film’s title), Dunbar does it all.
He also hunts buffalo on horseback with the
Sioux in a simply breathtaking sequence and
fights off hostile Pawnees.
Costner, who performed most of his own
stunts, appears to savor every minute ofhisaci
ing. He is as convincing as Dunbar, andgetsto
audience to support and root for the Indians in
their battle to overcome Union soldiers.
This film is important because it attempts»
set the record straight and right some past
wrongs — both historical and cinematic. Yetii
never becomes preachy or moralistic, due to
Costner’s abundant sense of humor. When con
fronted with a crumbling human skeletor
bleaching on the prairie, a stagecoach drive!
quips, “Somebody back west is saying, ‘Whydon
he write?”’
I can only find fault with Dances With Wolves
in one particular aspect. The Union soldiers are
cowardly, mean, ignorant, vulgar (they usepaj
from the journal as toilet paper) and inept ai
marksmanship as they surface as the villains of
the piece.
Other than that, I can find very little fault.
In any event, on whichever level you wish to
enjoy the movie —whether as an action adveo
ture, a psychological study, a cross-cultural to
mance, a deep “message” film, or all four —
watch and enjoy it by all means.
Dances With Wolves is one of the best filmso!
the year, and is bound to turn up on 10-best lists
and at Oscar time. The film is rated PG-13for«
olence and nudity (a rear view of Costner),
currently is playing at Cinema Three in
Skaggs Center.
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