Search - Various Artists :: Every Word: a Tribute to Let's Active

A rare tribute album that actually works

Stephen Saunders | O'CONNOR, ACT Australia | 09/29/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

""The business of America's talking/If your speed's good you're in demand." Post-Iraq, Mitch Easter's tart 1984 couplet still sounds savvy. The North Carolina producer (REM, Pavement, dBs, Velvet Crush, Some Loves) is less well known as a remarkable writer and performer. The bands he produced rarely matched his own Let's Active, a stellar band of the 1980s. US East Coast groups stand out in this tribute. Also appearing are West Coast groups and Sydney's Soap Star Joe. Australia's own pop guru, Stuart Coupe, co-produces. Easter's pure pop inventiveness properly inspires several performers to have a go at emulating it. Long-time Easter associate Don Dixon delivers a spacious take of "Horizon", while Doug Powell deconstructs the difficulties of "Waters Part" with strings and psychedelia. Trolleyvox and Saving Graces stay nearer the originals, but make sparkling work of them. Less successful are efforts to completely subvert the intoxicating originals of "In Little Ways" and "Every Dog Has His Day". These acolytes know their stuff. Their twenty covers scoop the cream of the 40-odd Let's Active songs we have. I pined for the dual-paced swamp-grunge of "Night Train", but in golfing terms I think that one's an unplayable lie. Tributes rarely work as albums in their own right, but the sheer quality of the songs makes this one a pleasure. I hope it inspires people to seek out the wonders of the Let's Active back catalgoue."