I didn't really get to it in the first series review, and I don't want to go too far in depth, but I'd like to point out how sweet the album art for these splits are. Normally, I'd complain about a two-song vinyl costing $10 plus shipping, but the parody album covers by Mitch Clem and Nation of Amanda (Both of whom have done awesome flier/album/comic artwork for years) just look great, and make the purchase worth it, even just as a display in your collection. God help my wallet if they release the art as posters, cause I might just buy them all.
Now that I made the obligatory punk-rock bow to Clem and Amanda, it's time to stop chowing on the golden-brown, batter-fried skin and get into the hot, delicious white breast meat that is the Whiskey and Co./Ninja Gun split. Whiskey starts out with a cover of "Tuesday Morning" by Celtic folk-punk gods The Pogues. This is the first of the tracks in the series that I've truly enjoyed, and it has propelled me to dig in to W&C's original work. The first thing to really hit me was the vocals. Kim Helm has a wonderful voice, soulful and emotional, matching the mood and feeling of the song, never falling behind (and at times surpassing) Spider Stacey's original vocal recordings. The music is top-notch as well. The Celtic folk influence is delicately replaced with an American folk aesthetic that still fits very nicely with the song. The violins of the original recording are sorely missed at first listen, but every instrument, most notably from the bass and banjo fill in the holes very well with each consecutive play of the recording. Overall, the cover is an exceptional re-imagining of a classic song, played with conviction and reverence for the original.
Ninja Gun keeps up the pace of the great first track with their cover of The Kinks' "This is Where I belong." Another great cover a classic song, Ninja Gun does all the right things. Instead of trying to duplicate The Kinks' sound, they play it their way. Messy power chords, deeper drums, and well-harmonized vocals of a grungier era are mixed in with the Kinks' distinctive later sounds for a great time-line-crossing musical stew. The droning, half-tired/half-relaxed sound of the cover is a good take on the original's mood. The switch is done well, and proves what I tried to so say on Friday: a good cover is signified by the ability to find a common sound without having to remove what is unique between the two performers. In this case, though they have their own unique sounds, you can still hear Ninja Gun in The Kinks, and The Kinks in Ninja Gun, which helps keep a respectability to the sound of both recordings of the same song.
Overall, both tracks are both great covers, and stand well on their own shoulder-to-shoulder with the originals. I heartily recommend to this album to anyone of any age. Pogues fans, Kinks fans, Whiskey and Co. fans, Ninja Gun fans, folk/grunge/classic fans- everybody is welocme. It's done exceptionally well, and The Ninja Gun artwork is awesome in ways that was previously hard to fathom. Definitely worth the cash for a purchase.
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