SEAL ON PSYCHEDELICS

Various Artists // Just Tell Me That You Want Me // August 14 // Hear Music

Here’s a first, me voicing my thoughts on a tribute album. I mostly tend to ignore them because they are largely irrelevant lump of overstuffed mess, combining many different artists approaching one idea and sounding like the most disjointed band on the planet. That is very much the case with Just Tell Me That You Want Me, a tribute to Fleetwood Mac. The trick is, while it has people like Lee Ranaldo, Billy Gibbons, Marianne Faithfull and such, it also has Lykke Li, Tame Impala, MGMT and Washed Out. So why not?

Before approaching Just Tell Me That You Want Me you have to ask yourself, are you already a fan of Fleetwood Mac? This compilation consists of their most famous songs from the latter half of their career. It’s not Rumours plus couple of other tracks, the compilation does have some tracks from the largely ignored period before Stevie Nicks joined the band. There are no radical changes to the sound by any of the artists here, most of the tracks stick to their original versions while being played with the sound that the covering artists show in their day jobs. Just Tell Me That You Want Me is predictable and that’s quite a shame considering just how different the employed staff here can be. Washed Out turns Straight Back into a chillwave track, Antony Hegarty removes any trace of Stevie Nicks while delivering his version of Landslide, Lykke Li handles her folked out Scandi pop on Silver Springs. Really, other than the songwriters, Fleetwood Mac have very little space on this record that makes me wonder, what’s the difference between a tribute and a half arsed cover album?

Not that Just Tell Me That You Want Me is all separate artists doing their own thing. That’s the case with the young guns. The older names here are the ones that aren’t egoistic enough to eradicate every last trace of their song’s original sound. The New Pornographers sound like they’ve been transported few decades back in time on Think About Me, which is saying something as it’s not like they were the most forward looking bunch to start with. ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons does his own riff heavy take on Oh Well and you know what, all elitism aside it’s the hardest rocking track on here and one that retains Fleetwood Mac’s original bluesy sound while having on foot in the heavier region of rock. Marianne Faithfull herself turns Angel into one of the most beautiful moments on the record showing what the power of a voice can do. It pains me to say it but one of the only young acts who do justice to Fleetwood Mac’s sound is Best Coast, who take one of Mac’s best tracks - Rhiannon and turn it into a blues meets country hybrid, completely ignoring their usual generic indie sound. I’m almost impressed. Too many bands on here focus on doing what they do every day instead of actually paying tribute to Fleetwood Mac’s sound. Therefore these moments when they’re willing to step out of their comfort zone are rare but precious.

It’s only a shame that there aren’t more of them. 17 tracks long Just Tell Me That You Want Me features a lot of artists that you never heard of before and will probably never hear of again because they are entirely forgettable. Trixie Whitley, Karen Elson, Gardens & Villa, these are just few names who’s versions leave your mind before you can even register them. The tracklist on Just Tell Me That You Want Me is as unfocused as you can get, it’s not surprising that the album ends up sounding all over the place too. Oh and if you were wondering, Dreams is being covered by The Kills, and it’s sort of shit.

100 // Tropics // Parodia Flare

 99 // And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead // Tao Of The Dead

  98 // Zola Jesus // Conatus

   97 // Foster The People // Torches

    96 // EMA // Past Life Martyred Saints

     95 // SebastiAn // Total

      94 // Blood Orange // Coastal Grooves

       93 // Yacht // Shangri-La

        92 // The Kills // Blood Pressures

         91 // Brontide // Sans Souci

90 // Kate Bush // Director’s Cut

 89 // Battles // Gloss Drop

  88 // Sean McCann // The Capital

   87 // Death Grips // Exmilitary

    86 // Elite Gymnastics // Ruin

     85 // Toro Y Moi // Underneath The Pine

      84 // Shapes // Monotony Chic

       83 // M83 // Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

        82 // John Maus // We Must become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves

         81 // Sleep Over // Forever

80 // Lil Wayne // Tha Carter IV

 79 // Lil B // I’m Gay

  78 // Braids // Native Speaker

   77 // Andrew Jackson Jihad // Knife Man

    76 // Unknown Mortal Orchestra // Unknown Mortal Orchestra

     75 // Patrick Wolf // Lupercalia

      74 // Thundercat // The Golden Age Of Apocalypse

       73 // Washed Out // Within And Without

        72 // Dum Dum Girls // Only In Dreams

         71 // Lady Gaga // Born This Way

70 // The Go! Team // Secretary Song

 69 // Dum Dum Girls // Coming Down

  68 // Bon Iver // Perth

   67 // Still Corners // Cuckoo

    66 // Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX // We’re New Here

     65 // Das Racist // Power

      64 // Drake // Headlines

       63 // Belong // Never Came Close

        62 // Jay-Z & Kanye West // Otis

         61 // Foster The People // Pumped Up Kicks

60 // Patrick Wolf // The City

 59 // Girls // Vomit

  58 // Unknown Mortal Orchestra // Ffunny Ffrends

   57 // Kurt Vile // In My Time

    56 // Rustie // Ultra Thizz

     55 // The Antlers // I Don’t Want Love

      54 // Twin Sister // Stop

       53 // Neon Indian // Hex Girlfriend

        52 // The Kills // Satellite

         51 // Danny Brown // Monopoly

50 // Real Estate // Green Aisles

 49 // Washed Out // Eyes Be Closed

  48 // The Weeknd // House Of Balloons / Glass Table Girls

   47 // Oneohtrix Point Never // Sleep Dealer

    46 // Shabazz Palaces // Free Press And Curl

     45 // A$AP Rocky // Purple Swag

      44 // Kendrick Lamar // ADHD

       43 // M83 // Midnight City

        42 // PJ Harvey // The Words That Maketh Murder

         41 // Kuedo // Salt Lake Cuts

The 4th album from The Kills came out this year and guess what, it was pretty alright I guess.

Right, these guys seem to release an album every 3 years so I knew when this was coming out ages ago and was waiting for it rather impatiently, I can’t be blamed for that since Midnight Boom was brilliant. On Blood Pressures the duo puts down the more electronic sounds and drum machine beats from the last album and goes back to their old garage rock sound, although it is way more polished this time.

Album starts out strong with two singles Future Starts Slow (with a live video, something we sure haven’t seen from The Kills before) and Satellite, both songs sounding like singles from No Wow days, sadly, the rest of the songs sound like out-takes from the same album, they’re not bad but they dwell on that past sound for too long.

Jamie gets to sing on several songs (even gets a song to himself, even if it’s like a minute long). Then the album comes to a halt with an absolute shit of a song The Last Goodbye, yeah, you can tell by the title how bad it is, it’s probably the worst track they ever made.

Love or hate (Jamie is married to Kate Moss boohoo sell-out) these guys, they know how to rock, however I feel that this is the first album where they went back and made music they made before, yes it’s let blues influenced and more polished but I expected a bit more. Still a good album on it’s own tho, looking forward to the next album in 2014.

2.6