I remember the original version of "Always Something There to Remind Me" by The Supremes, so when the Naked Eyes cover came out, it always bugged me that they straightened out the rhythm in the chorus. It seemed to take something away from the song. Yeah, it's cool that everything was done on synths; as a budding keyboard player, I was always interested in hearing what could be done with them, and this was a good example. But some complained that making everything electronic robbed the music of its soul, and I felt that this was a good example of that as well. The deadpan delivery, coupled with the straight rhythm and metronome-perfect synths seemed to make it sound more artificial. Neil said it's really just a question of your honesty. I know what he meant, but to me, it's more about how clever you are. Music can be open-hearted, as he put it, and still be lame.
But... I recently heard the original Supremes version for the first time in a while, and found that I didn't like it as much. Maybe I've just gotten used to the Naked Eyes version, but when Diana sings those syncopated notes in the chorus (you know the ones I'm talking about), you can practically hear someone in the booth telling her "Make sure you really nail those syncopated notes, those are really important." I mean, she really nails them, hard. It was strange returning to an original I thought I liked better, and finding that I didn't like it as much anymore, that maybe I do like the cover better.
Topic: MTV in the 80s Song of the Day (Read 308318 times)
