In light of Michael Jackson’s upcoming comeback tour (the aforementioned “This Is It”), today I’d planned to feature someone taking on a track by the self-proclaimed King of Pop. Thing is, as I’ve previously discovered, his oeuvre was done to damn near perfection the first time around, so most artists know better than to go anywhere near them.
Instead I had to reach much further back, when Michael was just getting started on Motown with his four brothers on back-up. Right out of the gate, The Jackson 5 were chart champions, with “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” “The Love You Save,” and “I’ll Be There,” all consecutive #1s in 1970. These pop-music monsters are the songs that have proven ripe for re-doing.
When indie band Madder Rose entered the scene in 1993, the New Yorkers were knee-deep in a woozy, sludgy sound the British music press favorably compared to The Velvet Underground. (The original recording of “Swim” is still a favorite.) Two years later, Madder Rose had been called up to the majors, and their debut disc on Atlantic cleaned things up considerably, with the band’s indie-pop leanings now showing more brightly.
In 1995, Madder Rose also released a 4-song EP, the title track of which was a cover of The Jackson 5’s “The Love You Save.” The pace is more languid than the original, with guitarist/vocalist Mary Lorson making the melody sound more lovely and innocent than ever, while the darker tone of the song’s alphabet-letter break nicely alludes to the “danger zone” being warned about. Hear here:
We’ll see just how untouchable the Michael Jackson songbook is on Tuesday night, as American Idol presents its Top 13 tackling his tracks. I bet we’ll hear more Motown-era hits than not from the contestants during this particular theme week (the spot they save may be their own), but the real reason to set your TiVo is Kelly Clarkson, performing her own #1, “My Life Would Suck Without You.” (Kanye West is also scheduled to take the Idol stage.)
Madder Rose’s cover of “The Love You Save” is sadly out-of-print, but you can procure a copy from several kind resellers on Amazon.
