A successful covers album owes its success as much to choosing suitable songs as it does to what is done then with them, musically speaking. After all, do we need another collection of crooner classics (thanks, Rod), and is there anyone who still thinks there is anything new to bring to the long and complex story of the seemingly ubiquitous “Hallelujah”? This, in turn, leads to a second issue. Do you stay faithful to the original or try to put your spin on things? Adhere too closely to the former, and people may say that you are simply ridding the coattails of the original artist. Take the latter approach, and you risk being accused of being arrogant enough to assume you know better than the original composer. Yes, this cover album business is a minefield for sure.
But these are factors that Dick Aven has thought long and hard about; take “Logical Song”, which kicks Altogether Elsewhere off; here, he renders the Supertramp classic into something slower and slightly more psychedelic, keeping more than enough of the original structure to make it easily recognisable, but warping it slightly so as to make it his own. And, of course, the iconic sax solo plays right into Dicks skill set too.
There are well-known, if unexpected songs…sorry, not unexpected, I mean carefully selected, such as Badfinger’s “ Without You,” made famous of course by Harry Nilsson, a piano-led rendition of The Beatles “A Day In The Life” where he neatly suggests all of the strange sonics and ever-changing structures with just this one instrument and a gorgeous and effervescent take on Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.” But there is also room for covers of Alan Parson’s Project’s “Eye In The Sky” and even a soulful and sax-soaked take on Alice In Chains’ “Nutshell.”
On the way in, I mused on the idea that a covers album would only really work if the artist in question chose credible and exciting covers and then found a way to strike that fine balance between a certain reverence for the original and the will to test its current sonic borders. Given what I have just listened to, Altogether Elsewhere might be the finest collection of covers ever delivered.
