The Holtonian

In the Name Of Karaoke... Christian bands perform Karaoke of U2's songs

So I figured I should do a review on this In the Name of Love CD. I'll do it song by song since every song is by a different artist.

1. Sunday Bloody Sunday, one of U2's most famous works that pretty much put them on the map in a lot of ways. The Christian band Pillar did their take on it. I have to plead ignorance on most of the Christian bands on this CD (I only know a few) but this band seems to be a Xtian Link N Park wanna be band. So they're wanting to be Linkin Park, then trying to do Sunday Bloody Sunday, it just doesn't work. In a lot of ways the song is just a rehash as well. Smashing Pumpkins did a good remake of SBS that was acoustic I believe, and that was a great sort of remake. But this one is too Karaoke.

2. Beautiful Day by Sanctus Real. Again don't know much about the band but they sound like Goo-Goo Dolls. This song as well is pretty Karaoke, but the guitar and bass line was adapted slightly and I kind of like it. So a karaoke song that kind of sounds good. Its like watching American Idol, Rockstar Supernova, etc and seeing a guy do a song and you're like, "That was pretty good though the original is better." The problem with these karaoke songs is the structure of the songs is just the same as U2 and so they don't do much to adapt it and make it their own.

3. 40. By Starfield. Its kind of hard to criticize 40 because as far as U2 is concerned its kind of a simple song. There isn't much to it so there's not much you can do to it. I remember singing this in chapel at covenant and it's like a praise song, simple and to the point. The singer hits some notes Bono can't/shouldn't hit but other than that its pretty bland.

4. Love is Blindness: Six Pence None the Richer. Now I think there is an instant edge when a woman covers a song traditionally sung by a man, because strait off the bat its going to sounds different. So this song is unique in some ways. But in the end I can't stand the Sixpence girl's voice. So any uniqueness is lost on me. She lost me when she did Kiss Me and There She Goes... I can't stand those songs.

5. Grace: Audio Adrenaline. The beginning of the song is unique but then the guitar rift and drums are just too similar to the original. The singer's voice is a lot different but he seems to mumble the Latin like he doesn't know how to say it right. The song is very Karaoke.

6. Grace: Nichole Nordeman. Sounds kind of like the Corrs. Grace is a song that I think naturally works better with a woman's voice. I wasn't a fan of this song when done by U2, but Nichole does a pretty good job of making it her own. She slows it down and puts her soul into it more than a lot of the other bands seemed to.

7. All I want Is You: Jars of Clay. This is the first song on the CD that really takes a song and changes it. Jars takes the song and makes it even more blues grassy than the original. A stronger bass line, a slide guitar, and a singer that sounds like Chris Isaac (sort of). I loved Jars of Clay's first CD and thought it was one of the best entire CD's (beginning to end) that I'd ever heard. Every song had so much thought and depth to it and for a Christian band that's a hard achievement. This song in of itself makes the cd a good purchase in my mind.

8. Mysterious Ways: Tobymac. Well we go up and then we come down to another Karaoke. A good karaoke, but still nothing new to this song except a different singer singing the song.

9. Pride: Delirious? This is a tough song to cover, its another one that is so U2 that I think any rendition will just pale in comparison. Its a good attempt at a Karaoke cover of the song, but the original is so superior that it can't be matched.

10. One: Tait. Now I don't know this band, but the name Tait? It makes me think of Taint...which really do you want to think of Taint when you're a Christian band. Nevertheless this rendition reminds me of the Macy Gray version, except she has more passion. Song lacks the passion that it should have.

11. With or Without You; Grits. What's with the dumb names? Actually this is probably my favorite song on the album. Its got a beat to it, a bit of a Christina Aguilera singer, but its unique, different and sounds very little like the original. This song and the Jars of Clay song win the awards for best and most unique. And make the cd a worthy buy for a u2 dork.

12. When Loves Comes to Town: Todd Agnew. And we have the worst cover ever made on the cd. I wish I could put a clip of it on here because its laughable. I'm not a fan of this song without BB King, I'm sorry but its just nothing without him. So this Todd Agnew guy is sort of country, but not good country, bad cheesy country. So far I've tried listening to the whole thing about 4 times but I get so disgusted I have to hit fast forward every time.

13. Where the Streets have no name... Chris Tomlin. The music is exactly the same as U2s, the intro is spot on... So again karaoke. This guy sounds just like the guy from delirious and tobymac. They all sound the same, not sure why. It reminds me of American Idol.

So in the end 2 really good songs. The rest except for Todd Agnew are worthy Karaoke renditions. For a u2 fan its a worthy buy. Its like listening to your favorite songs with someone else singing them... Actually its not like that, it is that. The only bad job done was Todd's. All the other bands did a worthy attempt. I'd like to hear Jars of Clay do some more of U2s stuff but doubt it will happen. I also wish they had taken some of the lesser known hits. Trying to take the best hits and redo them its like jumping into the deep end. If they had taken some of the lesser hits they could have shed some light on them. Take Out of Control, I didn't like that song till I heard U2 redo it on the Slane DvD. Then with their latest tour they redid a few of their oldies on the DVD and I liked them a lot, whereas before I just could never get into them.

Posted by holtonian at August 15, 2006 01:54 PM | TrackBack