Description
I Predict A Clone: A Steve Taylor Tribute is a multi-artist tribute compilation featuring songs originally written and recorded by the American singer and songwriter Steve Taylor, released on R.E.X. Music in 1994.
This sort of tribute is often reserved for artists who have passed on and/or left a much larger body of work from which to pick material. Taylor’s not dead; he’s not even sick (well, maybe he is a little sick…). It does seem fitting that as his career takes a fresh turn, several young artists who have been influenced by Steve draw on a selection of some of the best of Steve’s early songs in order to acknowledge his lasting influence on Christian rock.
Although he cuts a pretty wide musical swath himself, even Taylor would probably admit to surprise at just how varied the styles are on this collection. The set begins with probably the most aggressive deconstruction, an industrial version of «Am I in Sync?» from Circle of Dust; on the other end of the spectrum, the disc closes with a bluegrass version of «Guilty by Association» by the Sanctified Glory Mountain Revival Family. Highlights in between include the lovely «Bouguet» by Sixpence None the Richer, Starflyer 59’s droning take of «Sin for a Season», a delicious metal/lounge jazz/polka medley of «Stepplechase»/«I Want To Be a Clone» by DigHayZoose, and an industro/rave mix of «Drive (He Said)» by Argyle Park (which samples Taylor heavily). Also, in what will be their introduction to many outside Nashville, Fleming & John contribute a classical rock version of «Harder to Believe Than Not To». For the most part, all the artists involved display the imagination and originality which no doubt first drew them to Taylor’s music. [Bruce A. Brown, CCM, August 1994]
Tribute albums are usually a mixed bag. You have those artists who follow the original tracks note for note and you have those artists who want to remake the song in their own image. The artists contributing to the Steve Taylor tribute ‘I Predict A Clone’, all the procedes of which go toward charity, are more from the second school than the former; nearly every artist on this album targets what it was that made them love Steve Taylor’s songwriting in the first place, and prove that love by reinventing the package but leaving the core intact.
And what an interesting mix we end up with: Circle Of Dust reconstructs «Am I In Sync» into an industrial death dance: Starflyer 59 reworks «Sin For A Season» into pure noise, the dark melody awash in droning guitars; Fleming and John reorients «Harder To Believe Than Not To» into a whispery «Night In Tunisia» jaunt; Dighayzoose regurgitates «Steeplechase» and «I Want To Be A Clone» into a garage medley. There are also remakes from Hot Pink Turtle, Sixpence None The Richer, Deliverance and The Wayside.
Again, we still have a mixed bag. Bride gives a hard edged reading to «We Don’t Need No Colour Code», but take themselves way too seriously to understand it (and chop out half the words to in the process). Argyle Park gives «Drive He Said» the industrial treatment, sampling the original vocals and adding a dash of theater the original needed. And Sanctified Glory Mountain Revival Family destroys «Guilty By Association» in the name of hillbilly music, ironically coming the closest of all to understanding the magic of Steve Taylor.
The final result? An album where everyone who listens will come away with about three songs they really like, three songs they really hate and five songs they can tolerate okay. The problem is almost nobody will come up with the same 3/3/5 combination.
Somehow, I think Steve Taylor prefers it that way. [Chris Well, Syndicate Magazine, July 1994, Vol. 9, Issue 2]
CD tracklist:
01. Circle Of Dust – Am I In Sync? – 5:53
02. Hot Pink Turtle – A Principled Man – 3:22
03. Starflyer 59 – Sin For A Season – 3:47
04. Sixpence None The Richer – Bouquet 3:08
05. Dighayzoose – Steeplechase/I Want To Be A Clone Medley (Instant Cake Mix) – 7:30
06. Fleming and John – Harder To Believe Than Not To – 4:52
07. Argyle Park – Drive, He Said (D-Wee Dub) – 5:06
08. Deliverance – On The Fritz – 3:38
09. The Wayside – To Forgive – 5:24
10. Bride – We Don’t Need No Colour Code – 4:09
11. Sanctified Glory Mountain Revival Family – Guilty By Association – 3:38
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