There comes a point in any long-running band’s career when they make an album of cover songs. There can be a number of reasons; perhaps they’re contractually obliged to release something before they can get out of their contract, or perhaps they’ve reached some sort of creative plateau and just want to get something out to remind their fans that they still exist. In the case of The Beautiful South I think that the reason is ‘for a bit of a laugh’.
It has to be for a bit of a laugh, because I refuse to believe that any artist can cover You’re The One That I Want and not be taking the piss in some way. The song’s played out completely seriously but with tongues firmly in cheeks. At least…I hope so. I’m going to assume so, anyway, because if that’s not the case then it must be that The Beautiful South have just fucking lost it.
Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs opens with the cover of You’re The One That I Want and sets the tone for the rest of the album; you start off by thinking “This sounds familiar” and then you’ll move on to “Oh, God, it’s not…is it?” before finishing off with “It is! Jesus! How could they?” and then either loving or hating what they’ve done, depending on how strongly you feel about the original source material. In this particular case, the cover is better than the original (but then, how could it not be?), but when you find they’ve also covered Don’t Fear the Reaper you may find it a bit hard to take.
Seasons don’t fear the Reaper.
It’s actually a surprisingly good cover, to be honest, it has a sort of slow, smoky, vaguely-Latin feel to it — if you didn’t think that The Gypsy King’s cover of Hotel California was sacrilegious then you’d cope with this. This is always a potential problem with albums of cover versions; if you have any sort of attachment to the original songs, particularly classics like Don’t Fear the Reaper, then it can cloud any enjoyment you might find in the cover — I remember that Joss Stone’s cover of The White Stripes’ Fell in Love with a Girl ruffled some feathers, for instance, despite being a respectable song in its own right. On the other hand, a song you previously thought was dreadful pap can be given a new lease of life, such as S Club 7’s Don’t Stop Moving suddenly, miraculously, becoming good when taken on by The Beautiful South. In fact, it’s one of the stand-out tracks.
Sailin’ away on the crest of a wave.
Like I said, this has, I’m sure, all been done for a laugh — you can’t cover Oliva Newton John and S Club 7 without a sense of humour — and this would be a hard album to listen to if you took it seriously, particularly with the cheesy lounge jazz cover of Livin’ Thing, which was always a bit of a cheesy lounge jazz song anyway. Also of note is the cover of The Ramones’ Blitzkkrieg Bop, which is…different. A comparable cover would perhaps be Mike Flowers Pop’s version of Oasis’ Wonderwall. Make of that what you will.
As an introduction to The Beautiful South, there are obviously better starting points, but Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs makes a nice addition to a fan’s collection. I’m not sure of its repeat value, because part of its appeal lies in hearing familiar songs played in an unfamiliar way; once that’s worn off, it may lose something (though I’ve listened to Don’t Stop Moving about a dozen times today). A curio, then, but only for someone who gets the joke.