When artists release cover albums two possible reactions are, “what the hell?” or “what an interesting interpretation”. Listeners can learn a lot about a musician from the material and manner in which they choose to cover a song. Be it a classic or an obscure deep cut, covering songs is risky business. Tony Lucca’s new album, Under the Influence, is not one of the better cover albums to ever grace record store racks.
Lucca flips through a mostly classic rock and folk-rock catalog for Under the Influence. His selections offer next to nothing regarding insight into his artistry as an interpreter of song. From Bruce Springsteen (“State Trooper”) to Tom Petty (“You Got Lucky”) to Paul Simon (“Baby Driver”), Lucca aspires to singer-songwriter glory, but sounds about as good as the best open mic folkie on any given slow Tuesday at the local coffeehouse.
Then he plunders the rockers: Jimi Hendrix, Steely Dan, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones. He sings Mick and Keith’s “Waiting on a Friend” about as lazily as Mick, but nowhere near as convincingly. He also sings “Angel” and “Dirty Work”, (Hendrix and the Dan respectively) with soaring, slightly robotic, vocals. Led Zeppelin’s “That’s the Way”, is a nice surprise amongst the bunch, being a good song from an overlooked album, III, and it holds its own in the hands of Lucca.
Chris Whitley’s “Dirt Floor” and Bill Withers’ “Grandma’s Hands” are the most obscure tunes on Influence. They are also Lucca’s best covers, and are delivered as if they sprang from his pen. He sings the two with a certain amount of pathos that resonates where most of the album falls flat.
The best one can state about Under The Influence is that the songs are well written. That being said, this is easily one of the worst collection of covers in recent memory.
Final Words: Why bother recording new songs when there are so many good ones already written?
[...] best open mic folkie on any given slow Tuesday at the local coffeehouse. … Excerpt from: Review: Tony Lucca – Under The Influence – eBurban Posted on September 19th 2011 in [...]