nineteeneighties

Grant-Lee Phillips’s tributes

Since forging an independent-solo career at the outset of 2000, one of the most gifted songwriters of his generation and the former Grant Lee Buffalo front man Phillips, has gone on to release three critically acclaimed albums, toured the globe several times over, composed musical scores for various independent films and television. Appearing as The Town Troubadour, Grant-Lee Phillips has stepped into a familiar roll. He is a lyrical chronicler, an astute observer whose songs are at once deeply personal and reflective. Nineteeneighties is a creative tribute to what was truly "alternative" during the formative 1980s and exhumes an age whose underground music has long outlasted the more popular songs of its airwaves. "This album is my personal mix tape, just as it's reeled around in my head for decades," states Grant-Lee. He has produced an excellent, soulful collection of cover versions. In Phillips’s own words, Nineteeneighties is “a nod to some of the songs and some of the people that made a lasting impact on my own songwriting and musicianship".

An Album of Covers That Actually Works

The 11-track set features covers of New Order's Age of Consent, a gentle, sedate rendition of the Pixies' Wave of Mutilation, Echo & the Bunnymen's superbly performed The Killing Moon and the Smiths' Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me among others. Phillips sums up the spirit of the era of the real indie or alternantive rock, the original underground, when the globalization did not yet put up present pace and people where looking for what they personally liked. Nineteeneighties is, as the title suggests, a reframing of some of the most intriguing and influential music. The result is a thoroughly smooth listen and an insight into Phillips' creative evolution, surely a fan's delight. The more you get inside of these songs, with not much more than a guitar or a piano, their personality comes through on new levels and appreciation for them deepens. Phillips’s amiable back-porch spin on REM.'s classic So.Central Rain (I’m Sorry) and the reworking of the Pixies' Wave of Mutilation, recorded with a strummed acoustic and a haunting slide guitar, are clever and lovely, while his acoustic take on Echo & the Bunnymen's The Killing Moon recasts the song as a Southern gothic lament. Boys Don't Cry is slowed down to a much easier pace. His voice is achingly lovely and his own character is revealed in each of the tracks.

Passion for The Originals is Never in Any Doubt

Nineteeneighties comprise tracks from Grant-Lee’s formative years, mostly performed semi-acoustic with some exquisite arrangements and a wide variety of instrumentation. Phillips sings with such emotion, bringing new power to a true classic. The Nineteeneighties collection has a personal root for Phillips as these were the songs that coincided with venturing out on his own, forming a band, trying on different ideas. On the whole, Nineteeneighties is sure to stir memories for those who came of age with the many tracks Phillips has lovingly dusted off and given new life.