This is a lot of fun in places, not so much fun in others. But ultimately it’s well worth a listen.
Everybody knows most people scroll to the bottom of a review without reading the flesh in the middle, so I thought I’d save people the hassle and write the last paragraph first. There’s a lot of love for A Loss For Words and they seem to be one of those bands, like This Time Next Year and Fireworks, on the periphary of something big. I’ll be honest and state now that I didn’t think all that much to the band’s last album. Compare it to other similar sounding bands and I don’t think it compares. The good news is that this collection of covers sounds so much better; it’s slicker and punchier and it sounds like a pop-punk album should sound. If this is how the band aim to sound in the future I’m convinced I will probably like them more.
Now everyone loves a good cover song, so in theory this album shouldn’t fail. Covering Motown songs is a bit of a gamble bearing in mind most fans probably won’t have been born anywhere near the release of these tracks first time round, but in the main AL4W do a good job. There are some very clever choices of songs (‘My Girl’, ‘Reach Out’, ‘I Want You Back’ and ‘Do You Love Me’) and they’re all performed with energy and plenty of singalong hooks. What better way to spend the summer than to sing along to souped up versions of Lionel Ritchie and the Jackson 5?
The problem, for me anyway, is that too many versions on this record are just too safe. They don’t sound like A Loss For Words covering Motown songs, they sound like cookie-cutter pop-punk band covering Motown songs. ‘Tears of a Clown’ could have been covered by anyone. Infact if I was doing some kind of blind taste test I would have assumed it was Valencia as the vocals sound identical. ‘What’s Going On’ is a bit of a disappointment too, while ‘This Old Heart Of Mine’ doesn’t really sit all that well amongst the chirpy tunes that surround it.
This record did, however, teach me that ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ was originally a Supremes song. That will teach me for thinking it was a Phil Collins original…