I’m one of those musical anoraks who absolutely adores cover versions. Whether it’s U2 doing Lou, Jeff singing Leonard or The Frames paying homage to The Pixies, there’s something special about a skilled artist reinterpreting the songs of his/her heroes. When covers are good, they’re really, really good, but when they’re bad, it’s bollocks.
Thankfully, Kittser has always displayed a knack for bringing something new to a cover, as evidenced by his beautifully lo-fi take on Prince’s ‘When Doves Cry’ last year. The Black And Red Notebook is similarly well endowed with some really beautiful moments.
It all starts slowly, Kittser easing into things with a version of his mate Richie Egan’s ‘Haunt Me’ (from Richie’s Jape persona and not the Rednecks). Then there’s the only David Kitt original on show in the shape of the magnificent ‘All Night Long’, a gentle tale of marathon drinking sessions, early houses and smoking bans, with our hero and his companion heading for the leaba when everyone around them is leaving theirs.
We’re soon in full-on covers territory, and it works remarkably well. Kittser somehow manages to make almost every song sound like his own, whether he’s reworking the distorted bluster of Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation, turning their ‘Teenage Riot’ into something altogether more subtle, or refocusing the listener’s attention onto the lyrics of Philo’s ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’, the teenage romanticism of which is usually lost behind its flamboyant melody. There’s a gorgeous take on the criminally underrated JJ Cale’s magnificent ‘Magnolia’, and he even manages to make a Michael Stipe composition sound like a Kittser original, as he electro-fies ‘Don’t Go Back To Rockville’ to within an inch of its life.
His take on the fab four’s ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ is slightly less successful, our boy’s vocal limitations letting him down slightly, before he leads the song into a maelstrom of sonic bluster that somehow feels wrong. Conversely, his version of Toots And The Maytals’ ‘Pressure Drop’ feels all right; his gentle, acoustic brush strokes perfectly suiting the song’s inherent mood.
The Black And Red Notebook won’t be to everyone’s tastes but even Kittser’s detractors will acknowledge that releasing an album of covers is a bloody brave move, particularly handling such well-thumbed volumes as the REM and Beatles back catalogues. Always interesting, sometimes improbable and often incredible, this is a rare snapshot into the songs and artists that inspired young Mr Kitt to pick up a guitar in the first place.