VARIOUS ARTISTS
Take Me Home (Tribute To John
Denver) (Badman Recording Co.)
Reviewed by Bill Holmes

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An eclectic group of artists tackle the works of the late John Denver. One listen will explain why obvious hits like "Rocky Mountain High" and "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" were passed over (not to mention the song that gives this collection it's title!). Yes, recognizable Denverisms abound, from the early "Leaving On A Jet Plane" and "Poems Prayers And Promises" to the career-breaking "Annie's Song" and "Follow Me", but the buoyant mood that The Grinning One usually flushed his material with is either dormant or absent on most of these tracks.

Will Oldham opens with an acapella "The Eagle And The Hawk", but Hannah Marcus' "Looking For Space" is almost as stark and sparse, despite musical accompaniment. Indeed, Low ("Back Home Again") and the ironically named Sunshine Club ("Annies Song") sound as if they recorded their tracks on the way home from the funeral. Low, especially, sounds like The Cranberries on Quaaludes, a lethal combination figuratively and literally.

The Innocence Mission, however, takes the same type of risk with "Follow Me" and succeeds with a fragile vocal floating above subtle and restrained instrumentation. Ditto Red House Painters, whose seven minute guitar opus on "Fly Away" lends a completely different color onto the canvas. Tribute collections are almost always hit and miss; how much you enjoy Take Me Home will largely depend on your tolerance for the combination of Denver's material and minimalist indie pop.

© 2000 - Bill Holmes