Customer Reviews

Silence of Love

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It wasn't that long ago that the prospect of an album offering an eclectic selection of cover versions would have sounded quite enticing to me if the participants in the project were known to me. However there has been such a deluge of such things in recent years (Joy Division in bossa nova style anyone? Anybody in hillbilly, bluegrass, reggae etc) that I now find I approach such concepts with caution. However, when I heard that Alela Diane was the singer on this album I couldn't resist as I'm a keen admirer of her "Pirate's Gospel" record.

Alela Diane(last name Menig), is usually described as a folk musician(although she has, prior to this, only recorded her own songs) and is supported by instrumentalists Josh Klinghoffer, Woody Jackson, Joey Waronker, Leo Abrahams and Gus Seyffert who have, apparently, worked with everyone from Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Beck to Smashing Pumpkins and REM. Headless Heroes, is the name she, dance auteur David Holmes, New York A&R "guru" Eddie Bezalel (who worked on Mark Ronson's Versions) and Primal Scream producer Hugo Nicholson have chosen for the venture.

The Silence of Love doesn't sound particularly folky to me and(thank goodness)doesn't try force any particular style on the songs chosen. The song selection is certainly interesting and I found it a plus point that I knew only one of the songs here(`Just Like Honey')as it makes it feel more like a 'proper' album.

The album kicks off strongly, if quirkily, with Daniel Johnston's `True Love Will Find You in the End' but doesn't truly hit it's stride until the arrival of Jackson C. Frank's magnificent `Blues Run The Game'(so instantly lovable that you'll feel you know it even if you don't) with other stand-outs being Nick Cave's `Nobody's Baby Now'(unmistakably his) and Pamela Polland's `See My Love' (recorded by the impossibly obscure Gentle Soul)which provides a fittingly climactic climax to the album(like Dusty Springfield belting out a Martha Reeves song, if that makes any sense).

If I had to criticise the album it's that, at times it is a little too restrained and tasteful, lacking the spark and bite that a `proper' band might have brought to the proceedings('Just Like Honey' for example,was good, it just didn't quite live up to my expectations).

So, perhaps, not quite a perfect record but the excellent tracks more than make up for the merely good, with plenty to enjoy for both fans of the artist and soon-to-be-converts alike: Recommended.

This is a beautiful album through and through from the cover illustrations to Alela Diane's gorgeous vocals. The songs (all covers) are soft, rolling, powerful, and, above all, thoroughly enjoyable.

I bought this CD last year but still can't get it out of my head. Every once in a while I happen upon the original version of a song from this CD. I keep thinking how hip is it to do covers of obscure, forgotten artists like Philamore Lincoln and Daniel Johnston. Maybe in my lifetime I'll eventually hear the original versions of all of these songs.

[DW]