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Sunday, March 09, 2008

Music Moday: Covers

Here we are on Music Monday again, and Kat has challenged us to find some good cover songs. I've heard a few covers that I've really liked over the years, and more than a few that I could just do without. A lot of these not-so-great covers have been found on tribute albums, where the newer artist emotes to an obnoxious degree while trying to "honor" the original artist's genius. But about three years ago I heard about the tribute album for Wes King, recorded to help him raise money for cancer treatments.

I really like Wes's music, and by many accounts he is a great guitarist and musician. (I heard a deejay talking once about how, in an interview, he asked if Wes could play one of his songs. Wes said he used a capo for that one, but didn't bring it. The interview continued, and a few minutes later Wes said he could play it now - he had transposed the song to another key in his head while talking to the deejay. To me, that's impressive.) I decided to give a listen to some clips from the album, called
Life is Precious, which has a mix of established artists (Phil and Cheri Keaggy, Scott Krippayne) and new artists (downhere, Addison Road).

One new artist, whom I had never heard of before, was
Luminous. Since they were covering "The Robe" - one of Wes's most popular songs - I felt I had to check them out. I was impressed. They took a good song from a soft pop sound and turned it into a power rock styling . View the video they made and you'll see what I mean (I had issues getting anything embedded here - sorry). The beautiful scenery for the video is their backyard - they're based in Hawaii, play some in the U.S. and Europe, but spend a lot of time in Australia and New Zealand

If you liked Luminous' style, they have just released a new album, which you can find out more about on
their site.

(Tip: This post begins a music-focused week here at Euphrony Rambles. Stay tuned for more tips and tidbits that might interest you, or your third cousin's second neighbor's uncle on his mother's side!)

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Eh, their sound was okay, and I appreciate the stylistic change from the original. But that video was terrible. The scenery was beautiful, but the visuals didn't say anything and certainly didn't compliment the music. Smooth voice but no charisma.

euphrony said...

I agree the video isn't the best - just a profile of the band, pretty much. And half the band isn't in it. I'm not sure what I would do to make the video compliment the music - definitely not have everyone walking around in robes!

I guess I like their sound a little more than you did, though. Maybe the charisma thing is why they've not become more popular here? Sometimes I get interested in a band as much for their story as music. With Luminous, the lead singer was a child model who got dumped when acne hit. Part of what they do is work with teens, and she teaches teen girls how to keep a good self-image when the world tells them their imperfect.

Amy said...

Wait a second...a themed week??? Doesn't that violate some gender blogging? ;)

euphrony said...

I never said anything about not having the random theme. This is, by no means, a calendar event - merely one extending over multiple days.

Chaotic Hammer said...

He's trying to get in touch with his feminine side.

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