Britpopped

The tribute album is a recurrent paradox in the realm of rock culture. Only bands that were really good or really famous ever get tributes, and no great band ever performs on them. Despite the influence of English mod greats the Jam on every band associated with Britpop, the groups that appears on the Fire & Skill tribute are hardly the cream of the crop. A band this stylish deserves neither an album cover this ugly nor cover versions this outmoded.

Like many of the more "original" covers here, the Beastie Boys' "Start!" is deeply misguided in many ways. The Boys have discarded the lyrics of the original, which once bore the fabulous legend, "Knowing that someone in this life/Loves with a passion called hate." Instead, Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori intones the chorus, and the remainder of the melody is played amateurishly on organs. At first this arrangement has a kitschy appeal, but it soon resembles Muzak more than any sort of brilliant eccentricity.

Most of the other covers are even less risky. The only significant difference between Reef's "That's Entertainment" and the original is the enunciation of the "la la la la la la" chorus. Everything but the Girl's "English Rose" is pretty; Buffalo Tom's "Going Underground" is the sort of mainstream alternative everyone is ashamed to like. The only thing that holds the album together is the consistent excellence of the original material. Songs this good are hard to fuck up, but they are even harder to improve, so the majority of the album is pathetically likeable, but also completely pointless. Fire & Skill is satisfied to congratulate the Jam on their brilliance. But because it never duplicates their energy, it becomes simply a group vanity project that either mimics the group shamelessly or disgraces the originals with failed innovation. (Sony/Epic)

—Sara Edward-Corbett

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