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Avg: 3.5 (21 ratings)
- Date Released: January 20, 2004
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Style: Indie Rock, Rock, Punk
- Label: Jetset Records
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We Say...
Firewater's fifth album takes the band's penchant for stylistic ADD — see the band's dabblings in high-stepping klezmer, Balkan laments and bossa nova — two steps forward with covers of songs by Tom Waits, Johnny Cash and Robyn Hitchcock, among others. For the most part, the band eschews faithful replication, stamping each selection with their signature swagger. Firewater imbue Lee Hazelwood's "This Town" with a sinister tone; favor dolefulness over paranoia in "Paint It, Black"; and take on Sonny & Cher's "The Beat Goes On" with a gritty duet between frontman Tod A. and Luna's Britta Philips. Songs We Should Have Written isn't particularly indicative of Firewater's strengths (as is often the case with cover collections), such as the spot-welding of burly, punkish pop with manic-depressive melancholy on Psychopharmacolgy or the willfully dizzying display of inebriated eclecticism on their 1996 debut, Get Off the Cross We Need the Wood for the Fire. It does, however, make for a comparatively light-hearted glimpse into their record collections.
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They Say...
Following the over-thought, overwrought carnival that was The Man on the Burning Tightrope, Firewater's covers album, Songs We Should Have Written sounds fresh, and perhaps paradoxically, more like Firewater than the band's previous album did. While the songs and artists the group chose to cover don't exactly trace their influences -- circus music and at least a couple of traditional Eastern European instrumentals would have to be added to even begin to be complete -- it's clear that the mix of alienation, sardonic humor, righteous anger, and occasional moments of beauty in these songs make them Firewater's spiritual forebears. On songs like Sonny & Cher's "The Beat Goes On," which features longtime collaborator Jennifer Charles of the Elysian Fields as Cher to Tod A.'s Sonny, the band strike a good balance of being faithful to the original version of the song and bringing their own identity to it (and manage to transcend the dated quality of lyrics like "the miniskirt's the latest thing" to boot). And the version of "Diamonds and Gold" by Tom Waits -- whose music is a direct influence on Firewater's -- emphasizes his famously skeletal percussion, but also brings in gypsy violins to give the song more color. Firewater also tackles some more dramatically different covers, including "Folsom Prison Blues," which the band strips down to little more than a sneer, some doomy organs and guitars; it's a welcome homage to the "Man in Black" that pays tribute to him without aping Cash outright. The version of Frank Sinatra's "This Town" also highlights a noir direction that also pops up on some of the album's other standout tracks. Chief among them is the largely spoken word version of "Is That All There Is?" Tod A.'s speaking voice is just as compelling as his singing voice, and his delivery, which suggests an internal monologue, or perhaps a particularly theatrical session with a shrink, is so good that the possibility of an acting career doesn't seem out of the question; musically, the song is reminiscent of the funniest, most chilling moments on Psychopharmacology. The acerbic wordplay and sing-song melody of "Hey Bulldog" also work well in Firewater's hands, and conversely, the languid lyricism of Robyn Hitchcock's "I Often Dream of Trains" doesn't seem like an instant match for the band, but it makes a fine closing track. Not all of Songs We Should Have Written is entirely successful: the cover of "This Little Light of Mine," which is arguably the song on which Firewater imprinted the most of their own musical style, sounds lumbering and is a little too heavy-handed in its irony. The covers of "Some Velvet Morning" and "Paint It Black" are also slight failures, albeit admirable ones. While Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra's psychedelic spaghetti western love duet is nearly perfect in its original version, it's still open to interpretation, as Primal Scream's recent unlikely but winning version proved. However, Firewater's version, while still good, is dragged down by too many trippy effects, particularly on Charles' voice; the phasing and circus-like atmosphere just end up dragging down the song. Likewise, "Paint It Black" pretty much is perfect in its original version, and while the band's slow and traditional version -- which turns the song into something between a dirge and a mantra -- takes its menace in a different direction -- it also ends up draggy and slightly too long. As it stands, Songs We Should Have Written is two-thirds of a great album, and would've made an exceptional EP, which is much better than most cover albums fare. At any rate, fans should appreciate the revealing games of dress-up Firewater plays on this album.
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| 01. |  |
The Beat Goes On |
4:01 |
|
| 02. | |
This Town |
4:09 |
|
| 03. | |
Diamonds and Gold |
3:52 |
|
| 04. | |
Folsom Prison Blues |
4:57 |
|
| 05. | |
Storm Warning |
3:00 |
|
| 06. | |
Hey Bulldog |
3:15 |
|
| 07. | |
Some Velvet Morning |
4:23 |
|
| 08. | |
This Little Heart of Mine |
3:38 |
|
| 09. | |
Paint It Black |
5:51 |
|
| 10. | |
Is That All There Is? |
4:11 |
|
| 11. | |
I Often Dream of Trains |
3:58 |
|
11 Total Tracks, 45:15 Total Length
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Credits
- Firewater - Main Performer // Doug Henderson - Engineer // Ramesh Misra - Sarangui // Tod A. - Bass // Tod A. - Sound Effects // Tod A. - Turntables // Tod A. - Vocals // Tod A. - Mellotron // Tod A. - Liner Notes // Tod A. - Cover Design // Paul Wallfisch - Organ // Paul Wallfisch - Piano // George Javori - Drums // Britta Phillips - Vocals // Ori Kaplan - Sax (Baritone) // Emily Lazar - Mastering // Oren Kaplan - Guitar // Oren Kaplan - Bazouki // Tamir Muskat - Percussion // Tamir Muskat - Drums // Tamir Muskat - Organ (Hammond) // Tamir Muskat - Producer // Tamir Muskat - Mellotron // Tamir Muskat - Loops // Tamir Muskat - Mixing // Asaf Roth - Marimba // Steve Ulrich - Pedal Steel
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