Sid & Susie's Pajama Party: Sweet and Hoffs Deliver the Funnest Covers Record Ever!
Written: Apr 18 '06
Product Rating:
Pros: That's right, I said "funnest".
Cons: Waiting for Vol. 2
The Bottom Line: In which the author throw grammatical propriety to the wind, and throws himself into a deep, all-night conversation with some unexpected friends about Barry Gibb's unheralded brilliance.
plorentz's Full Review: Under the Covers Vol. 1 by Matthew Sweet
"Have you heard any of this yet?" asked the guy behind the counter.
"No, not yet."
"It's delightful."
Personally I found it delightful that a guy behind the counter of a record store would use a word as uncool and, okay, yes, totally gay, as "delightful". But, then, the delightfulness of the CD that I was buying seemed almost self-evident. It reminded me of that Geico commercial where the gecko is marketing Geico's free insurance quotes to a fellow lizard and he says something like "It's like free pie and chips. Who doesn't want free pie and chips? It's pie. And chips. For free." And so it is with the debut album by the singing duo Sid and Susie... better known to the rest of the world as the Bangles' Susanna Hoffs, and 90s power-pop maven Matthew Sweet. I mean seriously, who doesn't want this record? It's Susanna Hoffs. And Matthew Sweet. Singing 60s songs! Where do we all sign up?
Then again, have you ever applied to Geico for car insurance? I'm not sure who's saving the up to 15% they advertise, but I would've lost my shirt switching to Geico. However, in the case of Hoffs and Sweet (who shall henceforth be called Sid and Susie because it's just that cute), the promised delightfulness is very real indeed. Under the Covers Vol. 1 is, quite simply, a blast and a half - like an all-shook-up glass bottle of Nehi Orange sodeypop. Sid and Susie have pored over their old 45 collections and come up with 15 songs they absolutely love - teaming up with a small band of totally respectable players including guitarists Richard Lloyd and Greg Leisz, drummer Ric Menck (Velvet Crush) and Greg Leisz (and oh, did I mention Greg Leisz?) for a totally fun bedroom oldies party. The record even gets a (pun-laden) stamp of approval from none other than Van Dyke Parks, who not only contributes various keyboards throughout, but also introduces Sid and Susie's contagiously giddy liner notes - in which, among other things, they winkingly enumerate the two distinct forms of Neil Young's kickassness and proclaim "bird" the best slang word for girl ever.
The song selection is a perfect mix of California pop (The Beach Boys' "The Warmth of the Sun", The Mamas and the Papas' "Monday, Monday"), acknowledged rock classics (The Who's "The Kids are Alright", The Beatles' "And Your Bird Can Sing"), and psychedelic gems by the Marmalade, the Left Banke, and the Zombies. It's almost all familiar, but very little of it is obvious, and even the obvious choices, like their take on the Stone Poneys' "Different Drum", are fresh - Susie reining in Linda Ronstadt's more swoony tendencies on the song (written by ex-Monkee Michael Nesmith), with Sweet harmonizing his butt off, like a guy possessed by all four of the Mamas and the Papas. But don't worry: he saves his Denny Doherty act for "Monday, Monday".
Covers albums are often scary, inconsistent enterprises. Everyone who embarks on one seems to start out with one of two tired premises. Either a) the inspirational approach: i.e. these are the songs that made us want to be singers (see Cyndi Lauper); or b) the musicological approach: i.e. I'm the only one in the whole world who knows about these songs, and I'm here to tell you about it (see Elvis Costello). But no matter the appoach, the experience is invariably joyless; these records almost always run out of steam ten minutes into the record (if not sooner - I'm talking to you Mr. Springfield). Moreover they often reek of a desperation for ideas and/or the fulfillment of recording contracts.
But for Sid and Susie, the joy's the whole point, and their enthusiasm never flags - they have a genuine affection for every single one of these songs, and that love pours out of the speakers as bubbly and orange and sticky-sweet and happy as that exploding bottle of just-opened Nehi. In fact, it may be the "sharing" that happens on this record that elevates it to something approaching pop nirvana.
Their voices sound great together - check their whispery (and just a tiny bit tremeloed) harmonic delivery of Love's "Alone Again Or", the relish with which they sing that line about people being the greatest fun - achieving an almost intuitive blend in both tone and phrasing - like two people who've spent their lives listening to the same records and loving them for all the same reasons, getting hooked on the very same details - a particular strain of harmony in "Cinnamon Girl", for instance, or the songwriting economy and lush melodicism of the BeeGees' ("two verses, two choruses, done", as they put it in the notes) - who discover each other almost accidentally, and can't stop talking to each other about how great this or that song is, who would (if they could) spend the rest of their lives listening to and talking about their favorite songs.* There's a geekiness to it all, of course. But keep in mind that one of these geeks sounds (and still looks) like a stone fox.
The Left Banke's gorgeous "She May Call You Up Tonight" comes off like the mother of the entire Bangles catalog here (thanks especially with Sweet's Banglesque harmonies), but my favorite track is the cover of the BeeGees' "Run to Me", which not only recognizes the song as a great, expertly crafted (and totally underappreciated) melody, but also revitalizes the song as girl-to-boy-to-girl tag team duet loaded with empathy, patience and support. And if I'm reading the "Vol. 1" suffix with proper optimism, Under the Covers sounds like the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Hey, Sid and Susie, do you take requests? Can you do a Grass Roots song next time? Please, please, please?
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* This actually happened to me a couple weeks ago when I stumbled into an IM exchange with a fellow Men Without Hats enthusiast on gay.com - he had me at "Ideas for Walls", but alas, we're both married to men without interest in Men Without Hats.
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BECAUSE YOU NEED TO KNOW:
"Under the Covers Vol. 1" by Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs
Shout! Factory Records
Released 4/18/06
Produced by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs
49 min.
SONGS: I See The Rain - And Your Bird Can Sing - It's All Over Now, Baby Blue - Who Knows Where the Time Goes? - Cinnamon Girl - Alone Again Or - The Warmth of the Sun - Different Drum - The Kids Are Alright - Sunday Morning - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere - Care of Cell #44 - Monday, Monday - She May Call You Up Tonight - Run to Me
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OH YEAH...
And how about something by Spanky and Our Gang too?
What do alt-rock/power pop heroes like Susanna Hoffs (The Bangles) and Matthew Sweet do on their time off? They get together in Matthew s comfy home s...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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