FOT Forum
FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: masterofsparks on August 10, 2009, 10:56:52 PM
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I know everybody who pledged to the marathon has not yet received their premiums, but based on the other thread, it seems like a good number of people have. Although the Ram tribute CD is certainly not the only part of the premium, it seems to be garnering the most attention and certainly seems to have been the most labor-intensive part of the package, so I figured this would be a good place for people to leave reviews and opinions.
First of all, I have to congratulate Tom and everyone involved. There's no good reason for this to be as successful as it is. All-covers albums are generally a dicey proposition, and in my experience, the more beloved the source material, the smaller the chances of success. Whether the material is beloved by the listener or the material, there are plenty of potential pitfalls. The devoted listener is going to expect a version as good as the song they love, and covers as good as the original are rare. For the devoted performer, the temptation to try and copy the original is great and, again, usually results in a watered-down copy. My least favorite moments here are the ones that simply try to copy the original (I will not be naming these tracks, since this thread is about celebrating success).
Personally, my favorite covers (both in general and specifically on this disc) are the ones that do something new with the song, whether it's injecting a new element or two (examples here includes The Black Hollies dropping a fuzztone onto Heart of the Country or the Spider Bags putting a country spin on Long Haired Lady) or completely changing the song into something new.
With that in mind, here are some of my favorite moments:
Portastatic - Ram On - See my final comments above. This might as well be a different song than McCartney's original. The jaunty, banjo-led (Edit: or is it a mandolin? I do not know my old-timey stringed instruments as well as I should) original is transformed into a somber, psychedelic funeral dirge that makes a pretty clear sonic reference to Sun King by the Beatles. A brilliant interpretation.
Dump - Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey - The guest vocalist puts it over the top. I knew it was coming but his entrance still made me burst out laughing.
Hank IV - Smile Away - This version has the most legitimate claim at "better than McCartney's original." Smile Away is the most rocking track on Ram, so the Hank IV make it louder, dumber, and altogether filthier.
Ted Leo - The Back Seat of My Car - As I said in the other thread, I think this is the best track on Tom/Dog. Ted Leo has the most daunting task of anyone participating since the original is Ram's most complete presentation of McCartney's many talents. Teddy Rockstar KILLS it. The fact that he was able to pull this off completely by himself makes me sick with jealousy.
What are your favorites?
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The Portastatic cover of Ram On is my favorite.
My kids keep demanding we listen to Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, and I am more than happy to oblige.
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I love Teddy Rockstar's the best, but I also loved "3 Legs" and "Ram On."
Also, I thought "Monkberry Moon Delight" was thoroughly Danielson, in quirkiness and style.
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I suspect that the entries by The Barbaras and The Stones Throw Singers may garner less ink in this thread, but I find both to be delights.
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This is indicative of the entire album: Too Many People is one of my favorite songs on the original, but I adore Aimee's version of it without losing any love for the original. Amazing album altogether, capturing the spirit of Ram without trying to emulate or "reimagine".
On a similar note, read the Believer article about imagined Beatles albums? Pretty fantastic: http://www.believermag.com/issues/200907/?read=article_ulin
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I suspect that the entries by The Barbaras and The Stones Throw Singers may garner less ink in this thread, but I find both to be delights.
I like those two tracks, but I almost don't think of them as part of Ram. I mostly listen to the album on vinyl so I almost never hear the original versions of those tracks. I end up thinking about them differently than the rest of the disc.
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I like Aimee Mann's version of Too Many People more than Paul McCartney's. And I like Paul McCartney's a LOT.
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Ted Leo - The Back Seat of My Car - As I said in the other thread, I think this is the best track on Tom/Dog. Ted Leo has the most daunting task of anyone participating since the original is Ram's most complete presentation of McCartney's many talents. Teddy Rockstar KILLS it.
I'm sure it's no news to anyone, but you are totally right about this. ALL of the tracks are superb, but every time this one in particular finishes, I am left with 100% non-fictional chills. So very stirring!
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Yeah, that Ted Leo track gives me the gooseflesh, especially the last 2 minutes or so. I played it for some co-workers the other day, and now we've got a Ted Leo station on Pandora they liked it so much.
That Danielson track is fun too, but yeah, Teddy Rockstar destroyed that shit.
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oh yeah, I think my sig pic had the desired effect yeah? maybe time to change it back to something less obnoxious?
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oh yeah, I think my sig pic had the desired effect yeah? maybe time to change it back to something less obnoxious?
I want it on a Tee shirt or a Big bumper-sticker.
Then feel free to change it.
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I don't like it. I LOVE it.
I also find it quite interesting how great Tom's 3 legged dog song stylings would be if he were to lay down some Band covers.
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It's really incredible. I really really like every track (except for Dear Boy, kind of). Back Seat of My Car just kills left and right, and is definitely my favorite track. Too Many People gives me a bad case of the can't-stop-smilings, too. It's really tough to pick out "favorites" because god damn, this is a really solid effort across the board, and just about every track would have a justifiable argument as the best one on the album. I've listened to it dozens of times easily and have no plans of slowing down.
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I'm playing "the back seat of my car" on the radio right now. Oh man, is this good.
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Dump - Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey - The guest vocalist puts it over the top. I knew it was coming but his entrance still made me burst out laughing.
I live the CD start to finish but a few things stood out above the others:
I did not expect the guest vocalist on Admiral Halsey so when it happened I was overjoyed by it.
I thought Aimee Mann's cover was perfect. I love her originals but I think she interprets songs as well as anyone. Same for Ted Leo who hit a grand slam with Back Seat of My Car.
The Hank IV version of Smile Away may be the best thing on the record though. It has motivated me to fill the Hank IV void in my record collection.
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It's really incredible. I really really like every track (except for Dear Boy, kind of). Back Seat of My Car just kills left and right, and is definitely my favorite track. Too Many People gives me a bad case of the can't-stop-smilings, too. It's really tough to pick out "favorites" because god damn, this is a really solid effort across the board, and just about every track would have a justifiable argument as the best one on the album. I've listened to it dozens of times easily and have no plans of slowing down.
I love Death Cab's version. Honestly, that is such a great pop song, but I thought the original had those "wah wah" background singers WAY too high in the mix. It completely overpowers the song. I'm glad they dropped it.
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I am not that familiar with the original album so I'm not good for judging anyone on interpretation.
The album is incredible. I have not yet been motivated to be a big Death Cab for Cutie fan but "Dear Boy" is my favorite song, followed by Aimee Mann's song. I really like the Dump song, too. In the middle -- before the guest vocalist and the "hands across the water" chorus -- there is about a minute of fuzzy distortion over a guitar strumming that I could listen to for days.
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Death Cab is great. I sort of hung around the edges of the Ben Gibbard pool for a year, then dived in. I don't necessarily like every song, but the best 3 or 4 on each album are pretty incredible.
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I thought I didn't like Death Cab for years until I gave them a fair listen.
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Death Cab's Something About Airplanes and We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes are really good early albums by these guys. Recommended.
The Tom album? Really good. I think what stands out to me is what a great mix it is. I have yet to feel the urge to skip a song.
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Death Cab is great. I sort of hung around the edges of the Gib Benson Ben Gibbard pool for a year, then dived in. I don't necessarily like every song, but the best 3 or 4 on each album are pretty incredible.
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I have been loving the hell out of this cd and I hate that I'm stuck taking the easy way out by saying that I love every track so much that I don't have a favorite. Or a least favorite. The urge to skip over a song and listen to it out of sequence has yet to hit me.
It's one thing for a cover song to actually feel like it's more than just a cover and be able to stand on it's own, but an album of covers which is solid from start to finish is certainly a moment of triumph! I feel this not only says a lot about each of the amazing artists who participated but to Mr. McCartney, as well.
And especially to Mr. Scharpling for making the whole damn thing happen.
How great of a soundtrack for late summer/autumn is this? Seriously... this is one for the ages.
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Finally got my mouse pledge package today. A fellow FOT played the album for me earlier, so I was not unfamiliar with it. Listening to it again, the Danielson track is the standout amongst standouts. So cool. I want a covers album from him/them so badly now.
I haven't gone through most of my other swag yet, aside from the Radio Thrift Shop CD which is amazing.
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This is only tangentially on-thread-topic but only relevant place for this so ...
My wife and I were driving around on some errands. I had the Tom/Dog CD in the car. I left to run into a store. I returned to see her looking over the CD. I told her that was a picture of Tom and his late dog Dogmo. Her reply:
"Why do you know his dog's name and not the name of some of my friends?"
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There are dogs in my neighborhood whose names I know in spite of the fact that I don't know the names of their owners.
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Just a quick addition to the Death Cab love, I'm very pleased at how their transition to a major label actually helped refine their sound. Huzzas all around.
TOM is brilliant. I've never heard a covers/compilation album that sounds so solid. It's more album-like than most studio albums by a singls band that I know of. Each song is great, but it's better as a whole album than the songs are individually, which is an amazing accomplishment. The stuff by bands I knew impressed me, and the stuff by bands I didn't know made me want to buy their albums. And, like I said in the other thread, I've never been much of a Paul McCartney fan. I don't dislike him; I just never got in to him. I was amazed to learn how mny of these songs I already liked without knowing they were his. Thank you, Tom.
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I am in love with the CD. I love every single song. I've listened to it a million times (partially because my computer crashed and it's literally the only thing on my itunes right now, but still!) and have grown to like it better and better each time. Aimee Mann's Too Many People is amazing. I'm glad someone called in to ask how the songs were chosen for each artist, because I had the same question. It's like they are the perfect songs for each of them, so I thought this couldn't have been an accident. It's all the more impressive to know that these people did this for free, and that Tom was able to make it all happen. Cheers to Tom!
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every time the barbara's another day comes on for a millisecond (a millie a millie) i think i'm listening to Since U Been Gone.