Buy this CD from:
Insound

Rating:

Pussy Cats is a cover album of a (largely) covers album. Read that again. That may either be the most genius or lazy idea ever.

In 1974 Harry Nilsson and John Lennon took time to record during the latter's notorious "lost weekend" period apart from Yoko Ono. Lennon served as the producer for this peculiar collection of songs. During the sessions, Nilsson ruptured one of his vocal cords yet continued to sing anyway. The outcome of their collaboration led to the original Pussy Cats album.

In 2006 the Walkmen were forced to vacate their home studio in Harlem, NY known as Marcata Studios. As a final project, they chose to record their own version of Pussy Cats which has been a band favorite for some time. Being that vocalist Hamilton Leithauser sounds eternally in need of Chloraseptic, the gruff vocals were easy to achieve.

The album opens with Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" which immediately sounds like it was recorded in the 70's with its overly ornate faux-orchestration. This interpretation comes across as corny and poorly conceived. The same can be said for "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and about half of the remaining songs. The spontaneous, sloppy appeal of Nilsson's originals comes across as forced this time around. 'Don't Forget Me" is one of the handful of Nilsson penned songs and easily the strongest performance on the album; lyrically moving and only made more-so by Leithauser's unique delivery. The bare piano and bass arrangement serves to underscore the sadness of each line. While not all that dissimilar from the original, this is probably the strongest moment on the album.

Since this was obviously a vanity project for the band, it is a little easier to forgive a misstep like this after the increasing strong showings of their first three albums. But, even for a fan of the group, Pussy Cats is too inconsistent to really appreciate on a repeated basis.

Reviewed by: Ghostly

Comments? Discuss this review in the forum