In anticipation of Tuesday's hotly anticipated and well reviewed release of Accelerate (the new R.E.M. album), I decided to post a review of a great covers disc that recently came across my way. Finest Worksongs - Athens bands play the music of R.E.M. is the recording of a night dedicated last September 06 to just that - the eve to the last R.E.M. greatest hits compilation and an eeire companion. The results are a wonderful range of songs that range from the faithful cover to the ingenious reinterpretations. If you were lucky enough to belong to the fan club last year you received a 4 song cd of the night.
Contained therein are 17 covers and one song based on another. The cd opens with a spooky version of "The One I Love" by Liz Durret. Redone from the vantage point of an obsessed lover it haunts me. Throughout it we get to hear some of today's athens artists doing new takes on "Perfect Circle" by Modern Skirts and "Leaving New York" by Five Eight (both great and raw), flashback sounds like "Second Guessing" by Patterson Hood and "Radio Free Europe" by Five Eight which could have come from the original church on Oconee and revisions of "Fall on Me" by Bain Mattox, "Feeling Gravitys Pull" by The Obersvatory, and "Wendell Gee" by Claire Campbell. R.E.M. themselves appear towards the end of the night on "Radio Free" as well as the closer "It's The End of the World"
All in all - if you love REM, you will appreciate the night. If you like REM you might find something new to hold onto and learn from. Check it out at yes, http://www.finestworksongs.com/ on Iron Horse Records. As a PS to it all, the cd also introduced me to athensmusic.net which is a great home to all things athens music related. Thanks to Jeff Montgomery for bringing my attention to this fine night.
Contained therein are 17 covers and one song based on another. The cd opens with a spooky version of "The One I Love" by Liz Durret. Redone from the vantage point of an obsessed lover it haunts me. Throughout it we get to hear some of today's athens artists doing new takes on "Perfect Circle" by Modern Skirts and "Leaving New York" by Five Eight (both great and raw), flashback sounds like "Second Guessing" by Patterson Hood and "Radio Free Europe" by Five Eight which could have come from the original church on Oconee and revisions of "Fall on Me" by Bain Mattox, "Feeling Gravitys Pull" by The Obersvatory, and "Wendell Gee" by Claire Campbell. R.E.M. themselves appear towards the end of the night on "Radio Free" as well as the closer "It's The End of the World"
All in all - if you love REM, you will appreciate the night. If you like REM you might find something new to hold onto and learn from. Check it out at yes, http://www.finestworksongs.com/ on Iron Horse Records. As a PS to it all, the cd also introduced me to athensmusic.net which is a great home to all things athens music related. Thanks to Jeff Montgomery for bringing my attention to this fine night.
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