GIRL VERSIONS
Emm Gryner
(Dead Daisy)
RATING: three and a half
Do not read the liner notes on Girl Versions before you listen to the CD. In fact, try not to look at the CD cover too closely. Pop the CD in, let it spin, and pay close, close attention to the songs.
You’ll find yourself pleasantly surprised, as Filipino-Canadian indie artist Emm Gryner takes 10 songs by male artists and reads them as only a female pianist could. And, yes, the sexuality of the songs does come into play, because Gryner takes tracks from such artists as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Clash, Ozzy Osbourne, Stone Temple Pilots, and Def Leppard, picks out all the testosterone from the songs, and reinvented them as emotionally laden piano ballads. Gryner, in other words, stolen the songs from the men on Mars to bring to the women on Venus.
The transfigurations would make Professor McGonagall proud. If the line, “pour some sugar on me in the name of love” was an unsubtle sexual invitation from Def Leppard, it becomes a verse about deep yearning in Gryner’s hands. The sex hasn’t disappeared, but what the song loses in aggressiveness, it gains in seduction. Not a bad trade.
Fugazi’s “Waiting Room” and the socio-political manifestos “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne and “Straight to Hell” by the Clash likewise gain an emotional dimension only hinted at in the originals. And what Gryner can’t make more sensitive, she at least makes more melodic: who would’ve thought that Stone Temple Pilots’ “Big Bang Baby” and Blur’s “Song 2” could actually be sung?
Not everyone’s bound to like Gryner’s reworkings—and, indeed, there are some instances where the testosterone proves to be the song’s fuel, and the girl versions sound a little weak, or at least just a bit off. (Why even attempt Nick Cave’s “Straight to You” when no one can even approach his style?) That’s probably inevitable, but it must be said that Gryner’s vocal style and extraordinary piano-playing is always interesting, whether or not you’re listening to compare to the original versions.
Okay, so singer-songwriter goddess Tori Amos already did it on this year’s cover album Strange Little Girls, but one can’t accuse Gryner of being a copycat. The original Girl Versions was a limited-edition cassette released in 1996; this updated CD version is a recording of an intimate concert performance earlier in the year. Overall, Tori’s Strange Little Girls is a better, more intriguing covers album, but Gryner has no overwrought concept behind Girl Versions or the selections within, so it’s also the more casual, less contrived of the two.
Gryner is one of those underrated singer-songwriters who, unfortunately, have more talent than they have listeners. Girl Versions is self-released on her indie label Dead Daisy, so it can only be had through ordering from the website (www.deaddaisy.com). Gryner’s previous albums of originals have already proven that she’s an impressive songwriter, and Girl Versions only confirms the breadth of her creative talent.—Kristine Fonacier
(Dead Daisy)
RATING: three and a half
Do not read the liner notes on Girl Versions before you listen to the CD. In fact, try not to look at the CD cover too closely. Pop the CD in, let it spin, and pay close, close attention to the songs.
You’ll find yourself pleasantly surprised, as Filipino-Canadian indie artist Emm Gryner takes 10 songs by male artists and reads them as only a female pianist could. And, yes, the sexuality of the songs does come into play, because Gryner takes tracks from such artists as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Clash, Ozzy Osbourne, Stone Temple Pilots, and Def Leppard, picks out all the testosterone from the songs, and reinvented them as emotionally laden piano ballads. Gryner, in other words, stolen the songs from the men on Mars to bring to the women on Venus.
The transfigurations would make Professor McGonagall proud. If the line, “pour some sugar on me in the name of love” was an unsubtle sexual invitation from Def Leppard, it becomes a verse about deep yearning in Gryner’s hands. The sex hasn’t disappeared, but what the song loses in aggressiveness, it gains in seduction. Not a bad trade.
Fugazi’s “Waiting Room” and the socio-political manifestos “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne and “Straight to Hell” by the Clash likewise gain an emotional dimension only hinted at in the originals. And what Gryner can’t make more sensitive, she at least makes more melodic: who would’ve thought that Stone Temple Pilots’ “Big Bang Baby” and Blur’s “Song 2” could actually be sung?
Not everyone’s bound to like Gryner’s reworkings—and, indeed, there are some instances where the testosterone proves to be the song’s fuel, and the girl versions sound a little weak, or at least just a bit off. (Why even attempt Nick Cave’s “Straight to You” when no one can even approach his style?) That’s probably inevitable, but it must be said that Gryner’s vocal style and extraordinary piano-playing is always interesting, whether or not you’re listening to compare to the original versions.
Okay, so singer-songwriter goddess Tori Amos already did it on this year’s cover album Strange Little Girls, but one can’t accuse Gryner of being a copycat. The original Girl Versions was a limited-edition cassette released in 1996; this updated CD version is a recording of an intimate concert performance earlier in the year. Overall, Tori’s Strange Little Girls is a better, more intriguing covers album, but Gryner has no overwrought concept behind Girl Versions or the selections within, so it’s also the more casual, less contrived of the two.
Gryner is one of those underrated singer-songwriters who, unfortunately, have more talent than they have listeners. Girl Versions is self-released on her indie label Dead Daisy, so it can only be had through ordering from the website (www.deaddaisy.com). Gryner’s previous albums of originals have already proven that she’s an impressive songwriter, and Girl Versions only confirms the breadth of her creative talent.—Kristine Fonacier
posted by Kristine F. | Tuesday, January 01, 2002
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