What makes a great cover song? That is perhaps going to be a question that will float around for as long as music itself exists. I guess in a way that questions can be answered differently by every single music lover in their own way, it all comes down to taste.
I know there are some music fans out there that love the kind of thing that Sarah Blasko did with her cover of the legendary “Flame Trees.” Covers that are given a completely new life and sound nothing like the original. Then there are people prefer the treatment that The Killers recently gave Icehouse’s “Electric Blue” – a cover that sounds so much like the original that you wonder how the hell they went about doing it.
For me though I prefer it somewhere in the middle. I love an artist to put their own stamp on a cover and make it their own, but I also like it to be at least recognisable enough that you can still sing-a-long if you know the original. And that, I am happy to say is what Ace Frehley has done with the covers on his latest album – Origins Vol. 2.
There will be some out there that will be sceptical of the album. Is it a cash grab for Frehley, a simple album to put together that his fans will flock out to by? I choose to think that isn’t the case. I choose to believe that this is Frehley getting a chance to put his own stamp on a bunch of music that he loves… ad obviously enjoys playing.
What I love most about this album though is what Frehley has done with these tracks… tracks that include absolute classics like “Lola” by The Kinks, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by The Rolling Stones and one of my perennial favourites – “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” by the underrated The Animals.
No matter what the style of the original track was Frehley’s re-working of it here sounds like what you would get if your sidled up to a dirty dive bar in LA on a Saturday night… and that is something that I have to admit that I love.
Throughout the album that style of re-working seems to work on amazing tracks by Deep Purple and Mountain. But of course that wouldn’t work for everything so the cover of The Beatles’ “I’m Down” suddenly contains a melody that The Beach Boyswould be proud of while tracks like Humble Pies’ “30 Days In The Hole” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Manic Depression” are given a little bit of grunt that seems to enhance their thought-provoking lyrics.
Perhaps the best track though to be found on Origins Vol 2 is Frehley making Deep Purple’s “Space Truckin’” his very own. It almost seems ironic that Frehley, the Space Ace, himself does such an awesome job on a track that just seems to fit his personality and persona. Yes, the line “space truckin’ with the space ace” works so well and if radio decides to pick up this version I get a feeling that this has a chance to become one of those iconic covers that is a must have for music fans.
Frehley hasn’t exactly re-invented the wheel with Origins Vol. 2 but what he has done is given a new life to some absolute gems and forgotten classics. He brings a dirty rock vibe to each track in a way that is going to make each become a fan favourite.
4/5 Stars