Steve Murray's rendition of Propaganda is immaculately faithful to the original without losing a new an interesting edge, but at 22 seconds, what is there to say of it above that? It's as good as you can get in that time.
Derek Paice's Girl From Germany is talking rather more seriously. Well, okay, it could actually be very little further from serious, but 'talking' is the word. Girl From Germany is just the last song on earth you'd ever think of doing a spoken vocal version of - but his is absolutely stunning, not to mention hilarious. And it still has that enchanting little tripping tune of the chorus that cuts in after about halfway.
Wednesday Week's Slowboat is a very strong slant on the original, in that much of the melody from the first version has been abandoned in favour of something new. Something new with a harmonica. It actually sounds remarkably good, certainly the changed backing suits the new vocals extremely well, but when covering such a classic song, comparisons with the original are inevitable and it can only come off badly from that. It's an excellent take on an excellent song, and on any other tribute CD it might well have been one of the best, but... well, you'll see.
Fletcher Honorama by R Stevie Moore has a brilliant tired-sounding vocal effect that suits the style of both this rendition and the original perfectly. The piece is masterfully recreated, particularly considering it took Sparks themselves some fifteen takes to get this song right.
Murray's go at Beat The Clock is almost as unexpected a style for the song as Derek Paice's Girl From Germany (the song, that is...). A sparse and almost eerily placid instrumental twangs along behind the reasonably faithful, if somewhat more relaxed vocals. Interestingly, the sound for this track works curiously well for the song, and it certainly lacks the slightly hyper-active shallowness of the Plagiarism version. My only criticism would be that he sounds rather like he's choking on his own bile when he sings the backing vocals.
Having not actually heard the original of With All My Might, The Squirrels' version was quite an experience. It has an immaculately created atmosphere and the individual sections of the song each remain as strong as they no doubt were in the original, and they merge perfectly into each other. It's also so incredibly catchy it beggars belief.
Steve Murray's third track (of four), The No. 1 Song In Heaven, is clearly a popular choice - the compilation contains three different versions. His is a superbly quiet and atmospheric interpretation and, in fact, it would stand up perfectly well as an instrumental track on its own, and could probably be released as such - the score is that far detached from the original. The vocals, though, are damn nearly as special as the music, and the overall sound to the piece is little short of magical.
The Quackle's version of This Town..., surprisingly the only one on the CDs, is rather a disappointment. Somehow the shy female vocalist doesn't quite recreate the energy that made the original what it was, and the backing is equally modest. It's still a nice tribute to the band, but the standard set by the other tracks leaves it somewhat outshined.
Rafael Wynn's La Dolce Vita is without doubt the highlight of the first CD. If Russ's vocals weren't so unmistakable in every Sparks song, this one could easily pass for one of their's. The 'oooh'ing synth leads into typically Sparks electronics and a steady beat until the vocals, faint but superbly rhythmic and haunting, fade in. Every moment of the track is executed with the utmost professionalism and the whole thing sounds superb. The atmosphere is stunningly well created and maintained and, for such a repeatitive six-minute track, it's shockingly difficult to tire of and, in common with All My Might, almost annoyingly catchy.
With both excellently full sounding backing orchestrals and choir-effects coupled with amazingly faithful vocals, Karen Walsha's Never Turn Your Back... does the original the justice it undeniably deserves. In fact, if the vocals are anything short of impeccable then the backing most certainly is not.
Peter Konig performs an admirable impression of Russell on his version of Popularity, and considering that all music and vocals on both his contributions to these CDs are completely his own, the effort is quite remarkable. In fact, there are no criticisms you could level at this track that don't apply to the original, which is quite a stunning achievement when it's Sparks we're talking about.
God/Monster's version of The No. 1 Song is less impressive than Murray's, but still has a damn good go at it. The vocals are quiet but excellently performed, and if anything is lacking it is the enchanting twists the other two versions of the song on this compilation add. To be fair it is actually an excellent tribute song and would have come off far better if it weren't for the two exceptional versions of the same track in the compilation, and it still stands as a respectable song as it is. And he does do the 'oooh lala lala laa la la lala' bits better than anyone else.
The least impressive but still respectable track from the prolific Steve Murray is Something For The Girl With Everything, which maintains every bit of the pace of the original, but lacks the particular edge both the Sparks version and the still-to-come Collider rendition. This could easily, of course, be attributed to simple recording limitations, but nevertheless it makes it sound lacklustre next to his quite superb previous efforts.
Those Mysteries, performed by, apparently, Egnekn's Daughter (eight at the time), is endearing enough if you're normal. I'm not, however, and my irrational hatred for children leaves me entirely unable to appreciate this track.
Finally, for the first CD at least, we have Murdoch's rendition of Pineapple. The valiantly attempted choir intro is actually quite perfectly reproduced when you listen to it carefully, but on first hearing it comes off more like a particularly verbose fight. The track quickly slips into the more familiarly harmonious Pineapple verses, however, and the rather well-sung main vocal more than compensates for the over-English sounding backing. And for anyone who, on hearing this song, is wondering why they suddenly shout 'Celery!' towards the end, I'm afraid that's my fault.
The second CD of the compilation, labelled 'Heavier', kicks off with quite simply the finest track on the whole collection. The Cuban Boys, I should establish, are in fact a signed band (although this is as of last monday), but even that considered, their A Song That Sings Itself is a stunning tribute to Sparks. Their sound is nothing like the band, of course, but their attack at the music is actually better in many respects. A short sampling from a film whose name, I'm sure, there should be a prize for guessing leads into the powerful electronic thrumming stream of textured sound that flows throughout most of the track. The vocals, when they begin for real, come in the form of an angelic voice with a subtle echo to it that gives the track an open-sounding sharpness to it and adds unmistakable and enthralling atmosphere. *'Can you hear me?'*
A Fun Bunch Of Guys From Outer Space, by The Wayoutz, is a brilliantly orchestrated piece and a faithful recreation of the original. The nasal, warbling vocals suit the lyrics nicely and the production is impossible to fault.
Suzie Safety by John Sunderland has a unique and curious sound to it. The song starts as though it's going to be imposingly sinister and eery, but in fact a cheerful little tune appears in the background almost straight away, and the track from there develops into quite an innocently amusing song.
Peter Konig's Reinforcements seems, to me, to have a single glaring fault that could have been rather easily avoided. The main bass drum beat thingy, which lasts for the entire track, is so deafeningly loud and tacky sounding that it actually disrupts the vocals and all other instruments every time it strikes, which is on several occasions each second. It's a crying shame, because everything but that is absolutely perfect and his accent adds a brilliant quirk to the vocals that is completely ruined by the almost offensively loud drum problem.
Wednesday Week's It's A Knock-Off, again a version of an original I've not yet heard, is a brilliantly performed piece of music. The effect on the guitar work suits the vocals perfectly, which themselves are superbly atmospheric and catchy. Like so many tracks on this tribute compilation, it is executed without fault and with a wonderful raw creative energy that seems to come only from the best amateur recordings.
The Wonder Boys top all previous renditions of The No. 1 Song In Heaven with their masterfully created medley of the two parts of the original. The vocals, facing the unenviable task of fitting two entirely seperare songs to one riff, perform immaculately in doing so and add an unmistakable enchanting edge to the song that is extra to the pre-defined background excellence of Sparks' writing. Sadly, though, no 'oooh lala lala laa la la lala's.
I Predict, by Collider, is the best suited band/song combination by far on either CD. They sound like a glorious combination of Sparks themselves and Faith No More, and it gives the track a ferocity and energy the original never had. It would be fair to say, in fact, that the track actually suits Collider far better than it did Sparks, and this rendition is superior to the original in every way. How can I say more than that?
AAIIEE's Happy Hunting Ground is a brilliant new twist on what happens to be my favourite Sparks track by far. The vocalist Jeff Larson sings in a slightly nonchalant, stilted and half-spoken manner but, with the lovingly recreated and extremely professional backing, that loses none of the intensely sentimental atmosphere of the original. Without this spin on the track it would have been left as a pale imitation of the original, rather than the exciting interpretation of a classic it actually is.
Peter Konig's third track, another of my favourite Sparks songs: So Important, gives an idea of just how good his Reinforcements could have been. Everything that made the original track such a superbly catchy and powerful song is in here and as strong as ever, right down to the 'woohoo's (which, it should go without saying, don't really seem that great when you write them down). The music is stunningly similar to the original, and his vocals really do add a lot to the track. Again considering that everything you hear by this guy is entirely his own work, the song is nothing short of a masterpiece, and a testament to the dedication and talent of Sparks fans the world over.
(Jesus, I'm sounding like a brochure. But everyone who owns this compilation seem to have the same problem - this compilation is just such a shockingly *good* one that it's impossible to do it justice in text without it sounding like some tacky sales pitch.)
AAIIEE don't triumph quite so well on At Home, At Work, At Play, yet another of my favourites. They still maintain the quirkiness to the vocals and the music is very nearly as faithful, but somehow the muddy production makes it sound slightly chaotic and unstructured.
In another example of the second track from a band not quite living up to the first, The Wonder Boys don't do as well with their heavy version of When Do I Get To Sing My Way, perhaps simply because the original song itself is far less suited to the style they do. It's still an excitingly original take on a classic song, and it's a long way from sounding bad at any part, but it isn't quite as consistently stunning as The No. 1 Song.
R. Stevie Moore, for his next trick, attempts a hard rock version of Here Comes Bob. Vocalist Krystyna Olsiewicz somehow doesn't quite do the original justice, which is understandable considering how good it was, and the sound doesn't work as well as the violins on the Sparks version. Not that it's at all fair to be comparing a tribute song to the original - it's just that so many on these CDs come close or exceed their inspiration.
Collider's Something For The Girl With Everything is an excellent take on the original, with the chorus shouted over a tannoy to seperate the vocal effect from that of the verse. This effect actually has the edge over the original - it loses none of the pace but helps break up the sections to make it sound less strained. The pounding, screaming nature of the instruments on this song makes it enjoyable but not much of a serious contender aside from the the vocal echo chorus idea.
Lastly we have Moon Over Kentucky by Klepto Maniac Zoo. It begins quite similarly to the original, but inside of a minute you can see why they're called Klepto Maniac Zoo. The insanely tuneless, angry, distorted pounding of the music almost completely drowns out the chorus and generally rages with unparallelled discord over the vocals throughout. The last half of the song doesn't even have the vocals to add rhythm, it simply roars and clatters and degenerates into another song entirely, one no less abrasive, and then finally fades out with weird vocal effects. If that doesn't sound good to you, you'll hate it, but, well, it does to me.
There we go.