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Older readers may recall the time when Natalie Cole recorded a duet with her father, Nat \u201cKing\u201d Cole. The event was somewhat controversial, as Nat had at that point been dead for some 26 years. Alas, and through what Billboard<\/i> described at the time as \u201cthe magic of digital technology,\u201d Nat\u2019s voice was applied to a new multitrack recording, the end result of which was a \u201cvirtual duet.\u201d<\/p>\n
In some quarters, the whole enterprise was seen as falling into the category of \u201cjust because you can<\/i> do something doesn\u2019t mean you sho<\/i>u<\/i>ld<\/i>.\u201d But the song earned three Grammy Awards and went Top Ten in six countries, and the album from which it came went 7X Platinum. So whatever one thinks about the manner in which that \u201cnew\u201d version of \u201cUnforgettable\u201d was created, it\u2019s hard arguing against that kind of success.<\/p>\n
Try as I might, I sense that something similar is going on with Hold On, We\u2019re Comin\u2019<\/i>, the new album from The (Fabulous) Courettes. This eleven-track album (one of those tracks is classified as a \u201cbonus\u201d cut) features the duo \u201cwith\u201d a parade of well-known acts from the \u201860s. What we have here is some kind of combination of original recordings (or parts of \u2018em) combined with Flavia and Martin Couri playing along.<\/p>\n
Now, did they run the original versions of The Grassroots\u2019 \u201cWait a Million Years\u201d and Johnny Thunders\u2019 \u201cYou Can\u2019t Put Your Arms Around a Memory\u201d through the now-trendy AI demixing program? This I cannot answer. And if they did \u2013 or even if they didn\u2019t, they did something<\/i> \u2013 how on earth did they get permission\/legal clearance to do so? The answer to this question also remains in the idunno<\/i> column.<\/p>\n
All I can do, alas, is comment on how the stuff sounds.<\/p>\n
Well, it sounds\u2026 weird<\/i>. The album opens with San and Dave\u2019s \u201cHold On, I\u2019m Comin’,\u201d a classic written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter. We hear Sam Moore and Dave Prater singing, and we also hear The Courettes playing along in a style that recalls nothing so much as Iggy Pop\u2019s \u201cLust for Life.\u201d Yeah, that\u2019s kinda\u2026 weird. And there\u2019s a strange kind of crosstalk (Flavia?) smeared across the whole thing, making the finished product sound very much like a live performance of the song in which some annoying couple in the row in front of you is having a loud conversation at the same time.<\/p>\n
The Grassroots\u2019 \u201cWait a Million Years\u201d has a spooky overdub that sounds like bad-trip Pet Sounds<\/i>: Phil Spector-esque production, and whatever remains of the original recording buried so deeply in the sonic stew as to be unrecognizable. Set all of that aside, and it\u2019s pretty cool. But that\u2019s a lot to set aside. I think some of the original backing<\/i> vocals remain. And again with the crosstalk!<\/p>\n
The Flamin\u2019 Groovies\u2019 \u201cShake Some Action\u201d gets the same treatment, and while it does answer the (unasked) question \u201cWhat would the song sound like if 1962-era Phil Spector had been at the recording console?\u201d I\u2019m not sure anybody\u2019s, y\u2019know, asking that. And again, what remains from the original I do not know. If the answer\u2019s \u201cnothing,\u201d that\u2019s fine, but then what\u2019s this all about?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not going to run down each of the tracks here, because what The Courettes do to them is pretty much the same thing each time. The Association’s \u201cNever My Love,\u201d Maurice Williams\u2019 \u201cStay\u201d and Joey Dee\u2019s \u201cPeppermint Twist\u201d are all processed through this very odd wringer, and not one of them comes out better for the experience. \u201cStay\u201d in particular is something of a mess, reminiscent of the (justifiably) unreleased Spector sessions for John Lennon\u2019s Rock and Roll<\/i> LP.<\/p>\n
And while Jay and the Americans\u2019 \u201cCome a Little Bit Closer\u201d is noted as the bonus track, the real outlier here is the sole contemporary cover (or re-jig, or whatever you wish to call it). A processing of Taylor Swift\u2019s \u201cShake it Off\u201d doesn\u2019t seem to include any of Tay-tay\u2019s recording; it\u2019s pretty good, but its whole reason for existing remains resolutely unclear.<\/p>\n
In fact that\u2019s my ultimate verdict on Hold On, We\u2019re Comin\u2019<\/i>. Yes, they could<\/i> do this (by \u201ccan\u201d I mean ability, not permission). But the question remains: Should they have done? I\u2019m leaning toward no<\/i>. As ever, of course, your mileage may vary. As for me, hold on, I\u2019m goin\u2019\u2026 to listen to something else now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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