(American Laundromat) I usually dig tribute album compilations – a chance for bands to pay homage, and also get looser than usual. But there are inherent problems with a Smiths tribute, and there’s problems that plague any tribute album. Amongst the former, considering how influential both Morrissey and Johnny Marr are on indie musicians, it’s hard to cover these songs without seeming to do impressions: perhaps the biggest name on here, the Wedding Present, do “Hand in Glove” with what sounds like an imitation of Moz’ vox and Marz’ (not an accepted Johnny Marr nickname prior to my typing it just now, btw) ax. As far as the latter, there’s too many folks on here that I just don’t know enough about to get excited to hear them do their rendition: I was pumped to hear Greg Laswell’s take on the Smiths, til I heard a decidedly unfunky solo piano minimalist suite…I was thinking of Bill Laswell, who the heck is this “Greg” dude? But there’s plenty of good stuff here, like the fancy strings on “How Soon Is Now” by Mike Viola and the Section Quartet, Kitten doing a dreamy “Panic,” Joy Zipper doing a weird dream version of “What Difference Does It Make,” and (even though they didn’t do their namesake-ish song) Girl in a Coma bring some welcome twang to “Rubber Ring.”
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