Various Acts - 'Ten From Tem' (Full Fill)
2/5
By: Matt Tomiak
The pitch: ten contemporary Mancunian bands are brought together to celebrate their city's rich musical heritage by covering a track by a classic Manc act. The results: variable.
It's an often intriguing oddity, though - 'Ten From Ten' boasts the dubious honour of being the first release to include Bee Gees and Simply Red-penned tracks that have ever been reviewed in these hallowed pages. Indeed, Blood Red Birds' rendition of Simply Red's 'Money's Too Tight To Mention' and the line contained therein - 'We're talking 'bout the dollar bill!' - only serves to strengthen the uncanny links between Mick Hucknall and David Brent from 'The Office' (just a shame they didn't opt for 'If You Don't Know Me By Now', a la the Brentmeister General).
The Smiths' 'Panic' is given a eerie shoe-gazer buff up by Tricky Nixon, meanwhile, befitting of its apocalyptic lyrical content, whilst kudos is due to Sam Hammond for opting for a most atypical Happy Mondays track ('Country Song'). Elsewhere, the hotly-tipped Pioneer's version of Morrissey's 'The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get' really adds nothing particularly new to the original. Nor does Hanky Park's take on the Joy Division classic 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' (an inferior track to Robbie William's 'Angels', if we're to believe the Great British Public and the votes they cast before this year's Brit Awards) - hell, they've even got Peter Hook guessing on that one.
Collectively interesting, then, if neither consistent nor essential.
Artists in this article: Various Acts
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