Music Notes: Sid and Susie, Under The Covers Volume 1

January 15th, 2007

= 3 stars

Amazon link

Music One of my Christmas presents (to myself, in a sense) was the album Under The Covers, Volume 1 from Sid and Susie, better known as Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs (The Bangles). The disc is a collection of fifteen sixties-era covers, which if I stop to think about it, was over forty years ago. Damn, I’m getting old.

My favorite songs on this disc are the most familiar, namely And Your Bird Can Sing, Sunday Morning, Monday, Monday (the conceptual ancestor to Manic Monday), and the best track in my opinion, Different Drum. It’s magical to hear Susanna belting out a song showing a confidence and range I didn’t know she had, backed by I’ve Been Waiting style Sweet harmonies. To hear Susanna coyly deal out the line “everytime you make eyes at me”… well, I do remember the video for Walk Like An Egyptian.

The Beatles song And Your Bird Can Sing is initially as a revelation with Susanna on lead and Matthew’s contrasting voice taking a turn on the middle (We Can Work It Out style). But the song’s latter half is less enjoyable as the vocals spin off into crisp but non-Beatley harmonies. This is one case when they should have played it straight as the high vocal parts on the last verse are sadly absent.

Sid and Susie

Some of the less familiar tunes are still pretty neat. I’d recommend I See The Rain, probably because the guitar bouncing reminds me of Matthew Sweet’s album 100% Fun. Also take a spin with Care Of Cell #44, a ruddy version of a Bangles song mashed with the Beach Boys and a car commercial. There’s also a shiny version of She May Call You Up Tonight that recalls XTC in my mind.

Less successful are the ill-advised The Kids Are Alright and the difficult Beach Boys tune The Warmth Of The Sun. If the musical pair wanted to cover Brian Wilson tune, I’d rather hear Susanna sing-speak “You’re under arrest!” from Heroes and Villains (or what about Surf’s Up?). And to cover Dylan is a really dicey prospect - It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue is more than slightly odd for this duo.

I consider this album rather hit and miss. For every neat number, there’s another that falls short. Layered over everything is a compressed, tight feeling that doesn’t really provide any space within these songs. The drums sit far back and are often overwhelmed by guitar-play and vocals. So if this album sounds even vaguely interesting to you, I’d recommend listening to some previews first and cherry-picking the choice tracks. Which is exactly what iTunes is for, right?