It’s not unusual to to see a covers compilation celebrating the work of a single artist or group. There are tons of those, and I love ’em. But it is different and frankly quite striking to see an artist dedicating a full LP to honoring the work of another.
The closest corollary I can conjure up are jazz songbooks. I’m sure I’ll uncover something of more recent vintage immediately upon posting this, but let’s just go with what I do know for the moment.
On Tuesday, The Bird And The Bee released Interpreting The Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates. In addition to being a mouthful, it’s also the third proper LP from the L.A. duo of Inara George (“the bird”) and Greg Kurstin (“the bee”), which specializes in a indie hybrid of pop and jazz. (Perhaps the jazz songbook example does have some relevance here.)
The set stars off with an original, “Heard It On The Radio,” a tune that fantastically hits all the right ’80s notes, before dialing up eight biggies from Hall and Oates‘ hit parade (a setup that brought to mind this song and this release).
Stretching from Daryl Hall and John Oates’ first top ten hit, 1974’s “She’s Gone” (#7) through to 1983’s “One On One” (#7 again), you’re sure to find more than one favorite featured. I’d have also campaigned for “Say It Isn’t So,” because the song seems a perfect fit for George’s Suzanne Vega-like voice. Maybe The Bird And The Bee recorded this and others for a bonus release down the road.
Currently my favorite of the ITM Volume 1 bunch is “Maneater,” partly because I have a very vivid memory of hearing the original on my bedroom radio when it was big in late 1982 (#1 for four weeks). But I really can’t stop playing TBATB’s cover because it features a vocal assist from Shirley Manson of Garbage (btw, Butch Vig, yes, we do want a new album).
Manson collaborated with Kurstin for her unreleased 2008 solo project (check out “In The Snow”), and on “Maneater,” she comes in for the “Oh, oh, here she comes” part, infusing it with the cautionary tone the song requires. Hear here:
I’m looking forward to hearing which artist The Bird And The Bee decides to hone in on for Volume 2 of Masters, though I suspect there could be some hipster irony at play in the selection of George and Kurstin’s inaugural honoree. Recall that Daryl Hall and John Oates never did release a sequel to Rock ‘n Soul Part 1.
Purchase The Bird And The Bee – “Maneater” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.
