Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - Under The Covers Volume 2 Review

Posted by Paul Hollingsworth on 07.29.2009

The Bangle and The Songwriter return with their second album of covers. Does their trip through the 70's result in the same magic as their first effort?

Back of a Car - Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs

Complete Track Listing:

1. Sugar Magnolia
2. Go All The Way
3. Second Hand News
4. Bell Bottom Blues
5. All The Young Dudes
6. You're So Vain
7. Here Comes My Girl
8. I've Seen All Good People: Your Move/All Good People
9. Hello It's Me
10. Willin'
11. Back Of A Car
12. Couldn't I Just Tell You
13. Gimme Some Truth
14. Maggie May
15. Everything I Own
16. Beware Of Darkness

Cover albums, as a general rule, usually fall into one of two categories. The first category is that of unapologetic hero worship, usually note for note, which may satisfy the musicians involved, but results in little enjoyment for the listener. The second category features musical abstraction to such an extreme that the covers seldom share more than a title with the original songs. On their first collection of covers, 2006's Under The Covers Volume 1 , the duo of lead Bangle Susanna Hoffs and songwriter genius Matthew Sweet mined the 1960's for pop gems which they refashioned into unique, contemporary covers. Both musicians were highly influenced by 60's musicians, so the leap was not that great, not that difficult. This time out, the duo tackle the 1970's, which on the surface seems a more difficult task.

The album opens with The Grateful Dead's "Sugar Magnolia" and the group gives a good accounting of itself on the Dead classic. Hoff's voice, one of the most purely feminine in pop music, sounds almost tailor-made for the song. Sweet's guitar also captures the mood of the original without treating it as unchangeable, holy writ. Will this version replace the American Beauty masterpiece? Of course not, but as an exercise in hero worship, it's not without merit or respectability. "Go All The Way" a minor hit for The Raspberries , follows and Hoffs and Sweet playfully exchange innuendo and expose the sensualness of the original. Hoffs' voice again takes center stage, and what originally was just another guitar driven ode to teenage lust becomes almost like a declaration of liberation. The duo make the song their own, which is one of the surest signs of a cover done well. Eric Clapton's "Bell Bottom Blues" and Fleetwood Mac's "Second Hand News" also take what are essentially sex songs and turn them into something a bit deeper and more expressive. The interplay and very noticeable chemistry between Hoffs and Sweet helps to convey the mood of lovers, instead of a singular cry from the wilderness of the originals. "Second Hand News" also features Lindsay Buckingham revisiting his lead guitar work from the original, and shows that sometimes the best interpretations are those done by the original artists. Mott The Hopple's "All The Young Dudes" also hits all the right notes, but the David Bowie -penned tune doesn't quite reach the heights of the earlier songs.

Carly Simons' "You're So Vain" and Rod Stewart's "Maggie May" don't offer much more than the barest of superficial changes from the originals and suffer because of it. "Vain", in particular, sounds no different than the thousand of karaoke versions of the song you've probably been subjected to if you've spent anytime at all in a karaoke bar in the last hundred years. Perhaps because the songs are so well known, so recognizable, it's hard to hear them with anything like fresh ears, even if the voice isn't the same. Even the idea of Hoffs singing "Maggie May" to a woman doesn't raise it above a curious choice for a cover. Covering big hits is a risk, and neither Hoffs nor Sweet seem to have any idea of what to do either of these songs that the original artists haven't already done.

Some of the more adventurous and less obvious cuts on the album , like Little Feat's "Willin'" and Yes' "I've Seen The Good People" benefit from their relative obscurity. Free from the demands of covering a hit song, the duo really shine and the songs seems fresh and full of the vitality lacking while tackling the songs everyone on the planet knows. (What is it about "Vain" though, that no matter how little of it I hear, my brain is forced to repeat the chorus for the remainder of the day? I know I'm not the only one.) "Back of A Car", the Big Star classic, instantly sounds familiar and timeless, even though the song, much like the band, has been nearly forgotten today. It's also not the first Big Star song Hoffs has recorded. The Bangles did an excellent cover of "September Gurls" back in the 80's.) One benefit of cover songs (and albums) is that they introduce people to bands and musicians they might otherwise never come in contact with. If there's a band out there that deserves to be rediscovered, it's Big Star. Their first two albums, in particular, feature some of the best pure pop songs ever recorded.

The album closes with a killer George Harrison track, "Beware of Darkness". Asides from showing again George's amazing song writing ability, the song also features Hoffs and Sweet at their best. (A guest appearance by George's son, Dhani, also helps.) In many ways, this song was one of George's most personal and heartfelt songs, and it lesser hands, it might become overwrought or over thought. The original almost felt like listening to the cry of a man's soul, voyeuristic in an almost lewd way With just a subtle change of texture and mood, however, Hoffs and Sweet make the personal seem universal, which is a rare talent, and almost unheard of in a cover song.

The 411: None of these songs, with the possible exception of "Go All The Way" are going to make anyone forget the originals, but that doesn't seem to be the point of the record. This is hero worship in the best possible sense, and Hoffs and Sweet do right by their idols. Recording a good cover song is a tricky task, and Hoffs and Sweet have made an (almost) whole album of nothing but. The chemistry between the two shines through on the best tracks and doesn't offend on the more mediocre ones. Bring on Volume Three, I say, and Four and Five while you're at it.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]