The first I knew of this was hearing New Buffalo's "Four Seasons In One Day" on the radio one morning, and I immediately became quite excited about the record (the operative word in that phrase being 'quite' rather than 'excited') - Tim and Neil Finn songs, covered by female Australian and New Zealand artists, and an impressive roll call of artists at that. It was the sort of cd that I didn't particularly want to buy but really wanted to hear; luckily, then, Beck C soon lent me her copy.
For me, it's mainly about the Crowded House songs - I haven't heard much Split Enz or solo Finn work but, like everyone else, I internalised Recurring Dream at some point in the distant past so that it feels as if it's always been there. Throughout, a real love for the source material comes through, which is (ahem) only natural, for doesn't everyone love Crowded House? I was initially nervous that it might be a bit embarrassingly earnest, but actually listening to the record all the way through made me realise what a silly thing that was to think in relation to these songs - they're all about honesty and feelings in the first place, and it'd ill behove me to hold the simplicity or straightforwardness of an interpretation against the interpreter.
The New Buffalo is, of course, a highlight, and in fact the best song of the set - "Four Seasons In One Day" is one of my favourite Crowded House songs, and Seltmann does it over in her own style while keeping it suitably bare and preserving that rare combination of directness and allusion which made the original so great. Almost as good is Clare Bowditch's take on "Fall At Your Feet" (another favourite), which opens the set - wavering, restrained, slightly haunted, and so exactly how the song should be done.
As to the other Crowded House numbers, Kasey Chambers' "Better Be Home Soon" is about exactly what you'd imagine that it would be (ie, earnest but good), Sarah Blasko deconstructs "Don't Dream It's Over" and does rather a good job of it, Renee Geyer successfully funks up "Into Temptation", Brooke Fraser stays pretty faithful to "Distant Sun" (and with a song like that one, staying faithful means you can't go far wrong...I think that it might be my actual Favourite of theirs), Holly Throsby reinforces my growing good opinion of her with a sensitive take on "Not The Girl You Think You Are" (which I've never been that keen on), and Natalie Imbruglia (hurray) does a by-the-numbers-but-sturdily-so "Pineapple Head".
As to others of note, the Lisa Miller contribution - "I Hope I Never" - is less wonderful than I'd have hoped (given that it's Lisa Miller) but still rather wonderful (honestly, she could sing anything and make it sound good), Missy Higgins releases another pleasant but unexciting song (I don't know...I want to like her, but her music's just kinda dull), Little Birdy are energetic and, to my surprise, quite good with a song called "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" (I don't know why I always expect to dislike them these days!)...elsewhere, Amiel, Stellar*, Sophie Koh, and a couple I hadn't heard of, Sara Storer (whose "Won't Give In" is another highlight, a light, delicately tripping bit of sweetness) and Goldenhorse (aw, no Bic Runga?).
In general, I tend to enjoy covers, though for every fairly good one there's at least one terrible one, and the great ones are pretty rare. The covers which annoy me tend to be those where I like the original a great deal but, on this cd, I basically like all of the Crowded House ones, while my responses to the other songs tend to be more muted. The mutedness is probably due to my being completely unfamiliar with the originals of the Split Enz and other stuff, meaning that they might as well be originals as far as I'm concerned; as to the liking of the Crowded House ones, well, maybe it just comes down to the melodies being so strong that these kinds of covers can't help but work.
