Search - Various Artists :: Beautiful Escape: The Songs of The Posies Revisited

The Next Generation of "Tribute Albums"!

Alan Heaton | Doylestown, PA | 05/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First, I will happily acknowledge that I am the Executive Producer of this album and the founder of Burning Sky Records - the label that released "Beautiful Escape: The Songs of The Posies Revisited." I know that so-called "Tribute Albums" are easy targets for criticism, but I think what we have done here takes the concept of the "Tribute Album" to the next level. Rather than simply "paying tribute" to The Posies, we have enlisted their participation - as well as that of bands and performers from all over the world who love The Posies - and given them the chance to revisit and reinvent the songs of The Posies, which are some of the best powerpop songs ever written.



The end result is this 46-track (there is a hidden track), 3-CD album containing individual song contributions from Posies members JON AUER, KEN STRINGFELLOW, JOE SKYWARD, and BRIAN YOUNG, as well as bands from the US, UK, Japan, Australia, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Argentina, France, Germany, Finland, and The Netherlands. We were even fortunate enough to get legendary "Frosting on the Beater" producer Don Fleming to "guest produce" Steven Wright-Mark's cover of "Frosting on the Beater" classic "Burn and Shine." Don not only remixed the track, but he also took over lead guitar duties and added backing vocals, and, in a stroke of genius for which I will be forever grateful - enlisted the help of reknowned indie piano legend R. Stevie Moore - great stuff!



There are great tracks all over the place - Jon Auer's folky, trip-hop take on "Daily Mutilation;" Ken Stringfellow's dramatic piano-and-vocal rendition of "Everybody is a [...] Liar;" Joe Skyward and Brette Howard's countrified "Start A Life," Megafauna's classic rock version of "Coming Right Along"(featuring Brian Young, EVE 6's Max Collins, and America's Gerry Beckley, among others); Slinkyredfoot's complete reinvention of "The Longest Line" (he removed the CHORUS, for cryin' out loud!); The Drowner's super re-energized "I May Hate You Sometimes," and many, many more.



You don't have to take my word for it - check out what founding Posies member JON AUER had to say about the record:



"I'll have to own up to being suspect when I first heard the concept of forty-five different artists recording new versions of Posies songs. I guess at my core I feared polite, cursory renditions of our relatively `best known', the proverbial `skating on the surface' as they say in the vernacular or at the very least folks just `phoning it in'. Still, as skeptical as I might like to portray myself, and after lending my ears to the procession, I couldn't deny the ultimate conclusion I arrived at: a lot of Beautiful Escape... truly manages to surprise me and I'm really touched that it does. At its best, if you will, I'd liken it to diving headfirst into a sonic mirror from a slightly alternate universe, a place where clusters of tone, choices of instrument, and phrasings of word are reinvented enough to render me able to enjoy something I originally created as if never considered possible in the first place. Wow. In a similar sense, perhaps it's like a stranger finding one of your old photo albums and restaging your favorite pictures in ways and with colors you might never have visualized. Colors that look and feel somewhat familiar, but upon closer inspection smell like a fresh coat of paint on a house you barely remember building. Double wow. Who would've `thunk' it possible? Not me, I assure you. I suppose until now, that is."



Obviously, I hope that you will like the record. However, knowing that The Posies like it - and they do - is enormously rewarding in and of itself. That said, I hope that you'll check out "Beautiful Escape: The Songs of The Posies Revisited"!"