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Copeland
Know Nothing Stays the Same
(Militia
Group)
Upon receiving Copeland’s latest EP, a collection of cover
songs mainly pulled from the fantastic time period known as
the 80s, I just had to roll my eyes. The thought of more shitty
cover songs made me cringe. Would it kill a band to take some
time and put some thought into a unique song to cover? Cover
songs by indie and punk bands are usually extremely rushed and
sound so in the recording. For the most part, they are nothing
special; just some sort of gimmick. How many bands can possibly
cover "Take On Me"?
Yet as I peeked through the track listing, my eyes were rolling
no more; they were actually quite surprised. Copeland takes
some classic sundry songs from the 80s and interprets them with
respectability. The diversity in the selection of songs was
definitely a positive entity for this reviewer. The mixture
of songs also sparked some nostalgia for yours truly. I just
then kind of had a feeling that maybe this assortment of cover
songs was going to be different. The songs chosen reminded me
of my early days of watching videos on MTV. Yes little ones,
back in the 80s, MTV played tons of music videos. So seeing
Phil Collins’ "Another Day in Paradise", Carly
Simon’s, "Coming Around Again", Billy Joel’s
"She’s Always a Woman", Berlin’s "Take
My Breath Away", and Stevie Wonder’s "Part Time
Lover", took me back to those days of watching those videos
on the tube.
The first track on the album is a rendition of Phil Collins’
"Another Day in Paradise". Right away, Copeland altered
my pessimistic views on this practice in general. Their adoption
of a slightly more up-tempo version of this song felt really
good. It sounded well thought out, and well played out - nothing
rushed about this outing. Some of the nostalgia rubbed off here
as well. My mother was a huge fan of both Collins and Genesis,
so hearing this song reminded me of my days driving in the car
with my mom and her Phil Collins and Genesis tapes. What sounded
good was how the song truly reverberated like the original but
with Copeland’s distinctively personal stamp on the track.
That same sort of nostalgia soaked their version of Berlin’s,
"Take My Breath Away." This song reminded me of one
of my favorite flicks from the 80s, Top Gun. Back in the day,
this song had me wishing I was hot shot pilot Maverick because
even where you’re a little man, that Kelly McGillis was
a sure sight for sore eyes. This song is really well played
again, as Copeland doesn't try to change the song into something
it is not, they merely spruce it up a tad, make their mark on
it, and run with it.
It was perhaps a mistake to casually dismiss this EP as the
same old junk. After a full listen, I realized that a band can
find some sort of uniqueness to cover songs without altering
the tunes entirely. Copeland dish out a very good EP that can
flicker up the wistfulness of the past, and I think that if
Phil Collins, Carly Simon, and Stevie Wonder were to hear these
songs, they would really be impressed.
Reviewed by
David Walter
August 6th, 2004 |
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