Music Review // Various Artists "The Big Cover-Up" (Big Curve Music)

https://bigcurvemusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-big-cover-up

One of the first things which I notice about this album of cover songs is that the way each song is chosen by the artist is interesting because it doesn't feel like their biggest hit, with the exception being Starship.   But, for example, "Down In A Hole" is not the most popular Alice In Chains song- perhaps "Man In The Box" would be, or "No Excuses".  Even "Eyes Without A Face", as the album begins, isn't the most popular Billy Idol song.   But it is still a song that music listeners should know if they are a fan of Billy Idol.

Many of the artists on this compilation take the song by the original artist and sort of make it their own through their cover version of it.   This is the theme as 51 Peg does this dreamy, heavy rock version of "Eyes Without A Face" that also just has these dark acoustics.  The Landis Harry Larry version of "We Built This City" is such a unique take on a classic while Steep Steps brings a Garbage-like approach to Alice In Chains.   Nova Koloso does an excellent job of creating a modern Black Sabbath sound.

The Neuro Farm just nails Joy Division in that slow, brooding way while Idiot Code just sort of punks up CCR in that Atari Teenage Riot way.   Dingleberry Dynasty has a distinct voice but the musical side of covering AC/DC remains true.  Project:Leviathen keeps somewhat true to the concept of Echo & The Bunnymen, who are just iconic.  Year Of The Fist seems like they've appropriately covered Butthole Surfers, though it was a song I am not familiar with ("Who Was In My Room?") but this definitely made me want to hear more of Year Of The Fist.

As this compilation of covers comes to a close, Hollowboy brings out this energetic cover of "The Walk" by The Cure, which is what I would imagine The Cure would sound like if they created an alternate band in a similar way that Joy Division became New Order.   This album gives you a lot of great music and perhaps you'll find yourself going down a long search of an artist you realized you didn't know enough about (for me Butthole Surfers) as well as one of the artists on here you might be hearing for the first but not last time.