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It wasn't that long ago that the prospect of an album offering an eclectic selection of cover versions would have sounded quite enticing to me, particularly if some of the participants were known to me. However there has been such a deluge of such things in recent years(Joy Division in bossa nova style anyone? Anybody in hillbilly style, bluegrass, reggae etc) that I now approach such concepts with caution. However, when I heard that Alela Diane was the singer on this album I couldn't resist as I'm a keen admirer of her "Pirate's Gospel" record.
Alela Diane(last name Menig), is usually described as a folk musician(although she has, prior to this, only recorded her own songs) and is supported by instrumentalists Josh Klinghoffer, Woody Jackson, Joey Waronker, Leo Abrahams and Gus Seyffert who have, apparently, worked with everyone from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Beck to Smashing Pumpkins and REM. Headless Heroes, is the name that she, dance auteur David Holmes, New York A&R "guru" Eddie Bezalel (who worked on Mark Ronson's Versions) and Primal Scream producer Hugo Nicholson have chosen for the venture.
The Silence of Love doesn't sound particularly folky to me and(thank goodness)doesn't try force any particular style on the songs chosen. The song selection is certainly interesting and I found it a plus point that I knew only one of the songs(`Just Like Honey')in its original form.
The album kicks of strongly, if quirkily, with Daniel Johnston's `True Love Will Find You in the End' but doesn't truly hit it's stride until the arrival of Jackson C. Frank's magnificent `Blues Run The Game'(so instantly lovable that you'll feel you know it even if you don't) with other standouts being Nick Cave's `Nobody's Baby Now'(unmistakably his) and Pamela Polland's `See My Love' (recorded by the impossibly obscure Gentle Soul)which provides a fittingly climactic finish to the album(like Dusty Springfield belting out a Martha Reeves song, if that makes any sense).
If I had to criticise the album it's that, at times it is a little too restrained and tasteful, lacking the spark and bite that a `proper' band might have brought to the proceedings('Just Like Honey', for example, didn't quite live up to my expectations).
So, perhaps, not quite a perfect record but the excellent tracks more than make up for the merely good, with plenty to enjoy for both fans of the artist and soon-to-be-converts alike: recommended.
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