‘Moody Bluegrass
So what does an album by a British post-punk rock band have in common with a collection featuring the songs of a popular 1970s prog-rock band performed bluegrass style? Nothing, really. Except for being in this review together.
The first of those albums is the self-titled debut from The Futureheads, which functions as a basic collection of catchy pop rock and not much else. On that level, it works brilliantly. The songs are short, smart and listenable, never overstaying their welcome. While the band has its obvious influences (The Jam stands out in particular), they distill them into a cohesive sound made up of angular guitar chords, uplifting vocal harmonies and bouncy rhythms that never get bogged down in the trappings of the already tired dance-punk movement.
The album mixes songs from the band’s earlier singles and EPs with new recordings, so it is easy to see that the band is already beginning to make advances in their songwriting abilities. Early singles, such as the pop-rock gem “Robot,” sit alongside the doo-wop based “Danger of the Water.” At times the band sounds like the Kinks circa 1966-68, when they were moving away from the straight-ahead rock sound and on the verge of making “The Village Green Preservation Society.” If this analogy holds up, good things can be expected from the Futureheads.
And now for a complete change in mood. If I told you that a group of Nashville session musicians got together to make a tribute album to the Moody Blues, you would probably think that the result would be some kind of ultra-cheesy piece of culture fertilizer, right? That just goes to prove what an idiot you are. Produced by mandolin player Dave Harvey, “Moody Bluegrass: A Nashville Tribute to the Moody Blues” is a well thought out, wonderfully realized piece of music, which re-imagines the songs of the band that at times personified all of the worst indulgences of progressive rock.
By streamlining the songs into the bluegrass format, the performers find what made them so interesting in the first place. The instrumentation is beautiful, with some of the solo work surpassing the original material (the banjo truly is the most divine sounding instrument in the entire canon of music). It might come as a surprise that songs like “Ride My See-Saw” and “The Voice” make great country music, but it actually makes sense once you hear it. They even add a sense of urgency to cuts like “I’m Just a Singer (in a Rock ‘n’ Roll Band).”
While tribute albums are usually (and rightfully) condemned to a musical ghetto inhabited by Christmas
albums and easy listening records, “Moody Bluegrass” stands as one of the best of its kind.
