I am man, hear me roar

A beautiful collection of songs performed in era’s past by some seminal female names in music exists today on the No Man’s Woman compilation.

Tracks as varied as Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights, Bjork’s Hyperballad, as well as modern day pop princess’s The Veronica’s 4eva have been featured on this anthology. One small difference is noted when listening, that is each song has been reworked by an accomplished Australian male musician.

That’s right the lads from some of Australia’s most favoured rock acts including Powderfinger, End of Fashion and Expatriate and solo artists like Kevin Mitchell aka Bob Evans and Paul Kelly have assembled here with their own track choice the only criteria being that it was originally to have been made famous by a female musician.

Clever premise for an album I hear you say, and yes in fact the idea for this album was borne from a music fan’s intrigue to hear Oz greats, You am I cover Patti’ Smith’s Rock ‘n’ roll Nigger. Interestingly though that particular song is an omission from the album’s tracklisting (perhaps this time around?) but not to worry, despite this there are some lovely surprises that demonstrate the masters of music doing their thang.

Many of the songs selected would be remembered for the manner in which they were originally delivered. Sinead O’connor’s Nothing compares 2 U sat at the top of the Australian charts when it was released for an (at the time) unprecedented number of weeks - probably due to the anguish and emotion that Sinead brought to the lyrics. Dan Brodie, some 17 years on has managed to recapture the fragility in his version however he’s tweaked it to have an almost reggae undertone which surprisingly works incredibly well.

That old adage ‘what was once old is new again’ will almost certainly ring true on No Man’s woman. Blondie’s Hanging on the telephone, Lior’s beautiful take on Fleetwood’s Mac’s (Stevie Nicks) Landslide are just two stand out recreations. Of course a whole new audience and generation will feel the serenade potential of these songs and think they are originals.

Not only does this album allow us a walk down memory lane but we are privy to the fabulous talent that exists in our music industry today. The rising star that is Angus Stone catapults from the get go with a poignant rendition of Joni Mitchell’s River. It is fair to say for the most part it’s a pleasant journey into the hearts and minds of our Australian male artists.

One disappointment, to these ears anyway, was the offering that Bernard Fanning and the boys from Powderfinger served up. I’m quite partial to the original track Glorybox so that might be responsible for fuelling my discontent. The exquisite vocal from Beth Gibbons of UK ‘s trip hop act Portishead is absolutely iniliated in place of a gravelly and gruff Fanning’s tones and the drum beat behind this is far too heavy.

In most instances though this album’s tracks are reworked with the band or artist’s signature styling. Expatriate consider themselves experimental with electronica and so they’ve applied that to Everything but the Girl’s (Tracey Thorn) Missing.

Some big risks taken in many of these versions and in most cases the delivery is unusual but still manages to retain the essence of the original track. Something so very important to keep hold of in a compilation like this as this collection features some fairly seminal moments in music reborn.

No Man’s Woman is released on Universal Music and for a limited time features a second cd of the original artists.

Posted: October 11th, 2008 under ALBUMS.
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