The Bird and the Bee - "Interpreting the Masters Volume 1" Review

This review is a tad late. The album was released back in march of 2010, but better late than never. I love the sound of The Bird and the Bee. It reminds me a lot of a band I love, Pomplamoose. Both have a talented leading lady and both stylings are similar. The Bird and the Bee are a bit more electronic than Pomplamoose. So when I first heard "Interpreting the Masters" I was hooked not only because it had a great sound but it paid homage to one of my very favorite 80's bands Hall and Oates. Actually to say that is pays "homage" to Hall and Oates is an understatement considering the album is almost entirely Hall and Oats covers. Doing a cover album can be really tough. You want to honor the artist song, while still putting your spin on it. Too many covers out in the music world are literal translations of the song they cover. That's not bad, but its playing it safe. This band does a great job of doing the songs justice and also mixing them up a bit. They never try to overshadow the greatness of the original track, and you can tell that these guys are true fans of Hall and Oates. The songs "I Can't Go For That" and "One on One" are my personal favorite Hall and Oates tracks and Bird and the Bee's version are perfect in my eyes. Their version of "Maneater" is almost haunting at times with Shirley Manson doing obvious backing vocals on the song. The only song on the album that is a original is the first song "Heard It on the Radio" and it sets the mood for the rest of the album, almost teasing you of what your in store for later on.

Cover albums are hard to do, but The Bird and the Bee do an amazing job at giving us what we love about Hall and Oates and showing off their own flare. Would it be possible for me to say a cover album could be one of my favorites of the year? In this case not at all.

Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates gets 4.5 "Maneaters" out of 5



Track listing

"Heard It on the Radio"
"I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)"
"Rich Girl"
"Sara Smile"
"Kiss on My List"
"Maneater"
"She’s Gone"
"Private Eyes"
"One on One"