Thursday, April 3, 2008

The Walkman - The Old Revolution

The Walkmen have spent the last year or so paying homage to some of the greats. After a faithful rendition of Harry Nilsson's 1974 album (with John Lennon) "Pussycats," the Walkmen spent a cold March afternoon in Iowa recording a set of Leonard Cohen covers for Daytrotter (full session available on their site). It's a far cry from their first three proper albums which saw them alternating between wistful atmospherics and pounding, unforgiving rock (drawing the occasional comparisons to early U2). Although sonically different, it isn't too surprising to see some of the artists the Walkmen have chosen to revist. The scattered structure and half-remembered story-telling are characteristics which run deeply within the band (especially on their excellent 2004 album "Bows and Arrows" which plays like a cohesive collection of short stories centered around the trials and tribulations of life in NYC). On "The Old Revolution" the Walkmen offer up another honest cover with the melodies of the song remaining true to original, although vocally Hamilton Leithauser adopts the tone of a young Bob Dylan rather than Leonard Cohen. Though no drastic changes are made to the song the Walkmen do manage to make it their own. The entire 4 song session is well worth checking out and I suggest heading over there and giving it a listen.
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)