Sweetheart: our favorite artists sing poor covers of their favorite love songs

Sweetheart: Our Favorite Artists Sing Their Favorite Love Songs Tracklist:
1. Death Cab for Cutie: “Love Song” (Cure cover)
2. Katy Perry: “Black and Gold” (Sam Sparro cover)
3. DeVotchKa: “Hot Burrito #1 (I’m Your Toy)” (Flying Burrito Brothers cover)
4. Department of Eagles: “Love Me” (Elvis Presley cover)
5. Jessica Lea Mayfield: “Words of Love” (Buddy Holly cover)
6. Ben Bridwell: “Your Love Is Forever” (George Harrison cover)
7. Kate Tucker: “I’m on Fire” (Bruce Springsteen cover)
8. Rogue Wave: “Maps” (Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover)
9. A.C. Newman: “Take on Me” (a-ha cover)
10. Jem: “Yellow” (Coldplay cover)
11. Richard Hawley: “Early Morning Rain” (Gordon Lightfoot cover)
12. Daniel Martin Moore: “I Hear Music” (Billie Holiday cover)
13. She & Him: “I Put a Spell on You” (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins cover)
14. Lila Downs: “My One and Only Love” (Frank Sinatra cover)

Sure, the mixture of great artists and classic songs sounds like a fantastic idea…but im beginning to think that that’s where progress should’ve stopped.  The only track that I’m really into is She & Him’s- I Put a Spell on You and that may even be because I love Zooey Deschanel enough to be that biased.

But starting at the beginning…Death Cab for Cutie just can’t compare to the Cure.  I love Love Song, it is by far one of my favorite Cure songs, but something about the whine in Ben Gibbard’s voice makes the song completely unbearable.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Ben Gibbard and I think his engagement to Zooey Deschanel is fantastic, but please please Ben, don’t sing Love Song to Zooey.

Side note: threadless is selling t-shirts based on the Cure-Friday I’m in Love.

Katy Perry was also a surprise on this one too! Most people are under the assumption that she can’t really sing and at times I must agree due to various poor live performances on tv.  With her cover of Black and Gold she knocks one out of the park!  There are definitely moments when I’m reminded of I Kissed a Girl and it gets a little too shout rather than sing, but overall it was definitely a highlight on the compilation.

Furthermore, since when was Maps a love song??? or more specifically a love song worth covering.   But I was pleasantly surprised by Rogue Wave’s cover of Maps; the intro of the song starts off with an acoustic guitar plucking the melody of the song and while it does remind me of a bad chinese song in the way the notes are slid into and the triangle is dinged, when the drums and violin enter to fill out the sound all is resolved for the most part.

Take on Me is a fantastic song and the music video is definitely one of my favorites, but I’m neither satisfied with AC Newman acoustic rendition of the song nor the extreme enunciation of “take on me, take me on.”  I miss the synthesizer of the original and the classic falsetto, but for what it is worth…the cover could be much worse.

Jem’s cover of Yellow is also decent and is definitely growing on me with each listen.  I don’t particularly think that her voice evokes as much emotion as Chris Martin’s does, but it might just be because of the wholesome tones in his voice that she just doesn’t have.  The highlight is what what she lacks in vocals is made up for in her musicality and phrasing.

She & Him do a fantastic job, enough said.  Zooey and M. Ward can do no wrong in my book.

Lastly, Lila Downs I’ve never heard of you, but you recreated a love song and made it remind me of Christmas and that “the look, the touch, the feel of cotton” commercial.  That just might be classified as a failure.

soundbites-She & Him- I Put a Spell On You
Department of Eagles- Love Me