Pop ROC Pride Album Review: Universal Love Hits All The Right Notes!
Pop ROC Pride: Your LGBTQ+ Pop Culture update, fresh from Rochester, NY!
Pop ROC Pride is mixing it up! While we're still dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community here in Rochester & love pop culture, we're changing. Instead of weekly news clips, there will be biweekly reviews: music, TV episodes, movies, writing, etc.
So, this was the perfect time for NBC to release Universal Love. This new album is amazing. It's short and sweet with a positive, inclusive message. It has six tracks, featuring everyone from Bob Dylan to Ke$ha, where they reimagine classic ballads & love songs with the title and lyrics about the reverse gender from the original source.
To ensure the full effect of this switch, they had male performers sing about men and female performers sing about women.
Track #1:
Original: "She's Funny That Way" by Frank Sinatra
Remake: "He's Funny That Way" by Bob Dylan
The album kicks off with this tune and it's romantic to the core. Dylan's earthy vocals are emotional, achingly beautiful. I can picture this as a wedding song for an older gay couple. The voice of the Baby Boomers generation is singing again, this time for LGBT equality. Dylan's rendition is spot-on, and it's timeless in the best possible way. It's a slow burn of romance and companionship. It reminds us of the common advice: marry you best friend.
Track #2:
Original: "And Then He Kissed Me" by The Crystals
Remake: "And Then She Kissed Me" by St. Vincent
I already knew the original song right away. I'm a Millennial, and was raised on any and all music music from the 1960s & 70s, girl groups included. They tended to have uptempo, simple songs about love and loss. This one in particular is a short ditty about finding a great guy after bravely asking him to dance, and kissing him, leading to their happily ever after.
St. Vincent turned this from the swinging 60s to the electric 80s! If the first track was for the slow wedding dance, this is more of a Prom kind of song. It was sweet and innocent. This was very much in the style of Le Tigre. I can easily hear Kathleen Hannah singing it in the same style. It gets stuck in your head in the best possible way. You can't be anything but happy while listening to this. The optimism & innocence of the 60's is alive and well here. St. Vincent and her girl get a happily ever after!
Track #3:
Original "My Girl" by The Temptations
Remake: "My Guy" by Kele Okereke of Bloc Party
This was another one of the songs I knew on sight. The original has a slightly faster tempo and more background percussion, as a nod to the popular 'Detroit sound' of the era.
This rendition, however, is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. His voice is smooth and light, a delicate ballad drifting right from his heart. I picture this as the perfect wedding song at a twinkling, outdoor June wedding. Two grooms are slowly waltzing under the stars together as their loved ones look on with melting hearts. Perfect.
Track #4:
'Mad About The Boy" by Dinah Washington
Remake: "Mad About The Girl" by Valerie June
This song is about infatuation: a fantasy over a handsome movie star. The lyrics are both dreamy and dramatic, the singer says just by watching him she feels "quite insane & young again."
This remake is one of the most faithful to the original, with the same instruments being used. Again, it's about an obsession with a beautiful movie star, but now a girl is swooning for an actress. It's sensual and smooth, with the same jazzy hook and drawling, intense lyrics. It's a bold addition and was a great way to add stylistic variety, with something rather theatrical in the mix.
Track #5:
Original: "And I Love Her" by The Beatles
Remake: "And I Love Him" by Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie
Beatles song are always a crowd-pleaser. No matter your age, the Beatles are universally well-know and generally well-liked. This was a classic Beatles love song: well-structured and simple with a rather endearing sense of elegance.
This rendition is spectacular. First of all, Benjamin has an amazing voice. This song is hauntingly beautiful & rhythmic. Simple but honest. This tune is sultry and evokes the best parts of emo ballads and the Beatles: an ethereal tone with lyrics that are heartfelt and poetic.
Track #6:
Original "I Need A Man To Love" by Janis Joplin
Remake: "I Need A Woman To Love" by Ke$ha
Kesha covering Janis Joplin? In a word, yes. This is by far the most intense song on the album.
The similarities between these two young singers are uncanny and deserves to be noted here: Wild curly hair, colerful makeup & outlandish outfits. Both women are known for their partying, yet each has bursting creativity and an aching soul underneath all of the drama. I can't think of a better reincarnation than Kesha. Joplin, being bisexual herself, surely is appreciative of this effort in rockstar heaven.
The original is classic Janis: blazing guitars, screeching vocals, a bluesy backbeat and that laungrid, 60's pace, slowly drifting from one note to the next in a well-design chaos.
Kesha nails the cover. The way she uses her voice is amazing. This remake is very faithful although side by side, it sounds slightly more structured than the original, but in a good way. Both times, the lyrics are about the intense need to have someone by your side, because life can give you so many obstacles and loneliness and disappointments. We all want to face these together with the right partner.
Overall, the album is fun, sweet, inclusive and most of all, entertaining. It's not an elaborate message, and its simplicity of part of the beauty. It's a message of love and happiness. And isn't that what everyone wants?
