Description
What It Takes to Please You: A Tribute to Over the Rhine is a double disc multi-artist tribute album featuring various American independent artists covering selected songs originally written and recorded by Over the Rhine. The 2CD was independently released in 2002.
Worthy Tribute to Over the Rhine.
Do you like folk, rock, alternative, industrial, dance and goth? I do, and in the summer, there’s nothing I like more than a good collection of a little bit of everything for parties and hanging out, but mostly for those long summer road trips. This summer, I’m packing What It Takes to Please You, a tribute album to the Cincinnati band Over the Rhine.
Who is Over the Rhine, you ask? You should be ashamed, my friend. The old cliché “one of the greatest unknown bands” has been applied to them for more than a decade. The band mixes moody and poignant lyrics, female vocals and rock ‘n roll. Think Cowboy Junkies, but more – awake.
Three different types of songs comprise this double-disc set: 1) those that are mind-bogglingly, stunningly, exquisitely great; 2) those that are good, but are too much a shadow of the original – which, let’s face it, can’t possibly be improved upon – to be more than just a nice listen; and 3) those that are really, really wrong.
Fortunately, there are very few of 3 and enough of 1 and 2 to make it more than worth your fifteen-or-so bucks. (By the way, unless you’re in Cincinnati, the only way you can get it is by visiting drewvogel.com; all proceeds are donated to charity, and domestic shipping is free. Now back to our regularly scheduled review….)
Most of the songs with lead female vocals on ‘What It Takes’ fall into category 2. Jessica Aguilar Walker (Paul and Virginia) and Splendid Rain (Should) are talented musicians in their own right – I would recommend checking out their albums – but if I’m going to listen to an Over the Rhine song without Karin Bergquist singing lead, then either Linford better be rappin’ or it better be a true innovation.
A few songs with male lead vocals also fit category 2 («All I Need Is Everything» by Paul Soupiset or «Etcetera Whatever» by Ashley Peacock), but the male vocals are enough of a departure from the originals to make these new versions interesting.
The beauty and genius of the best tribute albums are the surprising, even perturbing reinterpretations of songs that you thought couldn’t be improved upon. But in the hands of another artist, a song can take on a wonderful life of its own, despite the preconceived notions of a diehard fan.
The faster guitar-driven version of «Miles» by Ellipsis is a personal favorite. There’s something positively delightful about hearing a man sing “you can write your name on the water/ it will drift on out to sea/ you can treat me like a daughter/ you can write your name on me.” Plus, the track ends with a little ditty on hammer dulcimer!
Another prize track is «HyperSomnia’s Murder» (one of OTR’s best), which features Moroccan-style instrumentals and spooky vocals that sound as if Death itself is speaking. This one will wake you up and demand your undivided attention.
A fitting follow-up is the funky, semi-industrial «Grey Monologue» by Drew Vogel, the man behind the tribute project. He speaks the lyrics, as in the original, but in an ominous “Voice from above” fashion.
By far, the absolute best, most inspiring, and most outrageously different track is the reinterpretation of «Jack’s Valentine».
Take the advice of a major fan with high hopes: Go buy the little-known ‘What It Takes to Please You’. I’ll just leave it at that. [Diane Flick, Crosswalk]
2CD tracklist:
Disc One
1-01. Paul Soupiset of San Antonio, Texas – All I Need is Everything
1-02. Chris Hahn & Trish Throop of Portland, Oregon – Jacksie
1-03. David White of Flint, Michigan – Latter Days
1-04. DRENCHED of Lancaster, Pennsylvania – Hej (I Do)
1-05. Ellipsis of Louisville, Kentucky – Miles
1-06. map of july of Chicago, Illinois – Faithfully Dangerous
1-07. Magnolia Gasoline of Guthrie, Oklahoma – Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
1-08. Mike Georgian of Cincinnati, Ohio – Happy to Be So
1-09. DiJiT of Cincinnati, Ohio – Jack’s Valentine (sploosh mix)
1-10. EON Chamber of Fremont, Nebraska – Faithfully Dangerous
1-11. Krystyn Wells, Lisa Spierer, Evan Cater, & Darryl Cater – Poughkeepsie
Disc Two
2-01. Drew Vogel of Cincinnati, Ohio – Grey Monologue
2-02. PIERS PLOWMAN of Livonia, Michigan – Go Down Easy
2-03. Rick Callender (bink!) of Fort Wayne, Indiana – Lucy
2-04. Ashley Peacock of Cincinnati, Ohio – Etcetera Whatever
2-05. Tatiana Simonian of Whittier, California – Rhapsodie
2-06. HyperSomnia of Dexter, Michigan – Murder (“Thou Shalt Not Commit Total Terror” mix)
2-07. Mariposa of Tempe, Arizona – Should
2-08. Mark Utley of Cincinnati, Ohio – Happy to Be So
2-09. Jessica Walker of Michigan – Paul and Virginia
2-10. Bruce Lachey of Cincinnati, Ohio – Happy With Myself?
2-11. Rainy Day Assembly of Red Bank, New Jersey – Anyway
Two local fans’ love for Cincinnati’s Over the Rhine results in an impressive tribute CD
The boundlessness of the Internet has been both a wonderful and (some might say) threatening advancement in modern technology and culture. The cyber-frontier has been deemed an outpost for pirates by some in the music industry, as anyone who has read about the rise and fall of Napster over the past few years can attest.
One of the more intriguing outlets in cyberspace from a music lover’s standpoint is the fan-site. Within many sites set up by fans are online forums that allow for a free exchange of ideas about favorite artists.
The beloved Cincinnati-based Folk/Pop group Over the Rhine has built up a cult-like following in its decade-plus of existence, so it’s not surprising that the band has a few very active sites dedicated to them. Bruce Lachey was sharing thoughts through an OTR newsgroup back in 1997 when the subject of how to raise the band’s national profile arose. While message boards and newsgroups can be fairly informative, they can also get somewhat irreverent and slap-happy. Some of the promotional ideas fans came up with: commemorative plates, wax figures and lunchboxes.
Luckily, Lachey latched on to a better idea — a tribute CD. Lachey put the call for participants out through the newsgroup and interested musicians poured forth. Lachey kicked the idea around for a few years, then enlisted friend and fellow OTR fan Drew Vogel to help with the production and organization of the project. The end result of their hard work is the recently released, impressive two-CD set, What It Takes to Please You, featuring artists from Cincinnati, Texas, Oregon, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Oklahoma, Nebraska and New Jersey.
“I’ve been an Over the Rhine fan for just about 10 years now,” Lachey says. “I moved here to go to UC and went a few times with friends to see them at (Corryville music venue/laundromat) Sudsy’s and have been following them pretty well ever since. It’s not the typical music I get into, but somehow it’s stuck in there for this long.”
Originally, the project was conceived as a single disc set but, from the start, Lachey was adamant about utilizing all the submissions, causing the collection blossom to two CDs.
“We didn’t want to be put into the position of deciding whose song got onto the project — we might have cut what could have been someone’s favorite, some of the musicians paid to record their songs, etc., etc.,” says Vogel. “For a lot of reasons, we decided not to ‘judge’ the songs and decide who got on and who didn’t, but rather put all of them forward as a collection, warts and all. Sure, some of the songs could have been cut out to make a single, really strong disc. But that wasn’t the point.”
The point, Vogel says, was to honor the way Over the Rhine’s music has impacted individual lives. Many in OTR’s loyal fan base have been deeply touched by the group’s music, so What It Takes gave the musically-inclined ones a way of saying thanks and “retelling a familiar story,” Lachey says.
“It seems a lot of people are really passionate about OTR,” Lachey continues. “Opinions are always extreme regarding them, it seems, more extreme than for most bands. Love ’em or hate ’em. They have this huge following that seems to ‘get it.’ I get to a lot of local shows, and in no other fan base have I seen such community.”
What It Takes features takes on songs from each of the band’s albums (except for last year’s Films For Radio) and also spotlights a few cuts that were on the band’s rarities and live collections. All of the cover versions aren’t winners (some treat the tunes a little too preciously), but there are some pleasant surprises and, as a whole, fans will feel comfortable about putting it in their record collections next to the real deal.
Highlights include Cincy’s Ashley Peacock and his soulful take on “Etcetera Whatever” from the home-recorded Good Dog Bad Dog (the most represented album here), a rootsy “Go Down Easy” by Michigan’s Piers Plowman and an energetic Pop/Rock take on “Miles” by Louisville’s Ellipsis. Elsewhere, the more experimental, electronic-based versions of “Murder” by HyperSomnia and “Jack’s Valentine” by DiJit, lend the disc some diversity. Other Cincinnati-area participants include Pay the Girl’s Mike Georgian (who has played bass with OTR in the past), Stop the Car’s Mark Utley, and the organizers themselves. Local Michael Wilson (a regular OTR collaborator on the artistic end) provided the photography.
Both organizers are pleased with the end product, and it already appears to be selling well at local retailers. Vogel has set up a link on his Web site (drewvogel.com) with information about the project as well as online ordering directions. Keeping in line with Over the Rhine’s community spirit, proceeds from the sales of What It Takes go to the Greater Cincinnati Community Shares program, which raises funds for 21 local charities.
So what do the honorees themselves think? The collection has the group’s blessing — Vogel says they communicated with OTR’s Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler about why it was a good idea to have an album celebrating their music.
“What makes all these people think they could possibly redo a loved song into a version that still holds merit?” Vogel asks. “We’re not sure we know the answer to that, but as we explained to Karin and Linford, perhaps it’s that every singer or musician has a short list of songs he wishes he’d written. Maybe it’s the melody, or maybe the lyric strikes a personal chord. Covering the song seems to make it your own, or even to continue telling the story. And then perhaps you can affect people anew.” [Mike Breen, Cincinnati CityBeat, volume 8, issue 14; Feb. 14-Feb. 20, 2002]
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