Various - Dream Brother : The Songs Of Tim And Jeff Buckley

  by Mark Rowland

published: 19 / 11 / 2005

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Both Tim and Jeff Buckley are the kind of artists that are so distinctive that it is very difficult to cover their songs and really pull it off. Hats off, therefore, to these bands and artists, which include the Magic Numbers, Sufjan Stevens and Adem for having the balls to give it a go. As expected, however, it is a bit hit and miss. The Magic Numbers kick the compilation off with a cover of Tim’s ‘Sing a Song For You’, which though pleasant, sounds a bit like a Magic Numbers B-side in their hands. Micah P Hinson’s countrified version of Jeff’s ‘Yard of Blonde Girls’ is a more interesting approach to the song, especially as the original is a pretty straightforward rock song. Sufjan Stevens does a lovely version of Tim’s ‘She Is’ in very much his own inimitable style, and King Creosote turns ‘Grace’ into a very traditional sounding folk song, though it feels lacking compared to the sweepingly brilliant original. Folk/slash electronica bands like the Earlies, Bitmap and Engineers take up a largish section of the album, with mixed results; the Earlies’ version of 'I Must Have Been Blind' works quite well, Bitmap just about pulls off ‘Dream Brother’ but loses quite a bit of the song's power in the process and Engineers loses the melody of ‘Song to the Siren’ in waves of ambient noise. It is Adem’s stripped down version of ‘Mojo Pin’ that is the real stand-out track here, followed by Stephen Fretwell’s similarly simplistic rendition of ‘Morning Theft’. Third prize goes to Matthew Herbert and Dani Siciliano’s slinky trip-hop re-working of ‘Everybody Here Wants You’. This compilation is far from perfect, but it’s a minor miracle that so many of these tracks work when so many others have covered Buckley songs and failed miserably to recreate anything that made the song good in the first place.

Track Listing:-

1 The Magic Numbers- Sing A Song For You
2 Micah P. Hinson- Yard Of Blonde Girls
3 Sufjan Stevens -She Is
4 King Creosote- Grace
5 The Earlies- I Must Have Been Blind
6 Bitmap- Dream Brother
7 Engineers- Song To The Siren
8 Adem- Mojo Pin
9 Tunng- No Man Can Find The War
10 Stephen Fretwell- Morning Theft
11 Kathryn Williams- Buzzin' Fly
12 Matthew Herbert + Dani Siciliano- Everybody Here Wants You
13 Clayhill- The River

Label Links:-

https://www.youtube.com/user/FullTimeHobbyRecords
http://www.fulltimehobby.co.uk/main/
https://www.facebook.com/FullTimeHobby
https://twitter.com/fulltimehobby
https://plus.google.com/101265945502860799533

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