We’ve all heard enough bad cover albums in our times – you know,
\ngroups who have no right even owning musical instruments attempting
\nto play songs we know and love in a fashion that makes us want to
\nstrangle them with their own Stratocasters. Lord knows I’ve stepped
\non enough of these musical landmines in my time, so one could
\nunderstand why I’m a bit shell-shocked when any disc in this
\ncategory arrives in my mailbox.<\/p>\n
And then, there’s
\nSka Chartbusters<\/i>, a disc originally issued in Germany which
\napparently hit these shores not too long ago. Imagine it: 25 bands
\nall playing in the style of Madness or early No Doubt, taking on
\nsuch musical stalwarts as Queen, Wham, Marillion, and… John
\nDenver? This disc was either going to be enjoyable, or it was
\nguaranteeing I would be living on Mylanta for a week.<\/p>\n
Surprise!
\nSka Chartbusters<\/i> is amazingly refreshing, putting spins on
\nwell-worn songs that I never thought could be applied. Throwing on
\na generous layer of horn-laden ska while staying as true as
\npossible to the original songs, these bands do an admirable job,
\neven if you’re hearing these groups for the very first time.<\/p>\n
Being a German release, it’s no surprise that most of the bands
\non
\nSka Chartbusters<\/i> are from Germany. (Their control of English
\nis to be applauded; if I had no liner notes to go on, with the
\nexception of the tracks sung in German, I’d have thought these were
\nall American bands.) Even the tracks sung in German are somewhat
\nenjoyable, even if I don’t understand a single word. Not being
\nfamiliar with the original works from artists like Nina Hagen and
\nDie Aeronauten, I’ll assume that the bands who cover these artists’
\nsongs (like Blascore and Frau Doktor, respectively) stay true to
\nthese particular originals.<\/p>\n
Now, I’ll admit that while I appreciate ska, it’s not always the
\neasiest form of music to get through in one sitting. Then again,
\nwhen you’ve got bands covering songs like Metallica’s “Seek And
\nDestroy” (Suspects), Frank Zappa’s “Dirty Love” (Gangster Fun), Bob
\nMarley’s “Soul Rebel” (The Butlers) and – good grief, Wham’s “Wake
\nMe Up Before You Go-Go” (Greenhouse), it’s surprisingly easy to get
\nlocked into this two-CD set.<\/p>\n
\nSka Chartbusters<\/i> applies this style of music to genres you
\nnever would have imagined combining it with. Frank Sinatra’s “New
\nYork New York”? Skanatra does it, and actually puts a sense of
\nhumor in it, too. Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloop”? It’s here, as Los
\nPlacebos’s “Skantaloop” – and a damn good job they do on it, as
\nwell. John Denver’s “Leaving On A Jet Plane”? Dr. Raju handle it
\nwell, though it loses just a touch of the melancholic nature of the
\nsong being played at a danceable tempo. Still, not the band’s
\nfault.<\/p>\n
Are there any faults on
\nSka Chartbusters<\/i>? I count but two. The first is merely a
\npersonal preference – namely, why Abba’s “Mamma Mia” and Europe’s
\n“The Final Countdown” get covered twice. Oh, all the covers are
\nenjoyable, but doubling up on these, with one version of each song
\nper disc, is a little repetitive. Second, the only ska cover which
\ndoesn’t really take off is Thumper’s take on Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy
\nTrain” – mostly because the band doesn’t stay with the original
\nlyric pattern. (Full disclosure: Benuts could be accused of the
\nsame thing with their cover of “Dancin’ In The Streets,” but they
\ndo keep it sounding interesting. Besides, there have been
\nalternative versions of this song over the years, so it’s a little
\neasier to accept changes on this track.)<\/p>\n
If you’re not really into ska, or you’re curious to discover
\nwhat it’s all about,
\nSka Chartbusters<\/i> is a nice way to get into this genre of
\nmusic while keeping a musical lifeline tied around your waist.
\nTaking on such a diverse collective of artists was a dangerous
\nfeat, but with the rare exception, all the bands on this set not
\nonly succeed, but they dare to stake some kind of claim on these
\nsongs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5827],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-37172","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-various-artists","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37172"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37172"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}