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 Caught in the Carousel - Music Reviews and More
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Through the Wilderness: A Tribute to Madonna
Various Artists
Manimal Vinyl Records
Through The Wilderness: A Tribute to Madonna features bluesmen to indie rockers interpreting the Material Girl's canon. The best covers interpret her songs the most imaginatively, like Jonathan Wilson's bluesy version of "La Isla Bonita" or the Dylan-esque "Beautiful Strangers Blues" by Golden Animals. Giant Drag's cover of "Oh Father" is beautifully understated, while "Cherish" by The Prayers is the most upbeat cover on the album. Both the stunning version of "Live to Tell" by Winter Flowers and the folksy "Borderline" by The Chapin Sisters feature beautiful vocal harmonies. The Tyde's acoustic "Hung Up" and Lion Of Panjshir's country-ish "Crazy for You" are unique takes on the originals. However, with any compilation you're going to have hits and misses. This album certainly has a few what-were-they-thinking moments, like Mountain Party's disappointing "Material Girl", which is too slow and ruins the chorus, taking all the fun out of the original. Meanwhile, "Who's That Girl," covered by The Bubonic Plague, is just a bland remix of the original with some added unintelligible voices and Apollo Heights's version of "Dress You Up" is just boring, adding nothing to the original. Excluding those few misses, the album is a fitting tribute to the ever-changing Madonna.
--Jessica Simons
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