By shelz.
The Roots have become quite the prolific outfit. We all know of the crazy touring schedule and their fancy shmancy gig over at the house that the peacock built, but with that ridiculous schedule, they have still managed to pump out two albums this year. The dark and focused How I Got Over will most likely be heralded as one of the year’s better albums, possibly casting a shadow over the cover frenzy that is Wake Up! It probably should, as it’s a better album, but not by much.
An album of covers is a tight rope act that doesn’t end well for most who step up to the plate. Either the loyalty to the original evokes a bad carbon copy or the artist thinks they can do better when they normally can’t. The chances of someone besting the originator is slim to none.
The Roots and John Legend don’t attempt either move in the case of Wake Up! They aren’t unreasonably stuck to the original performances, nor are their reworkings of the original songs flights of arrogant fancy that lead them to ruin. This album is a handful of brilliant songs that are crafted and delivered organically in conscious jam session format. Some songs are obscure, abandoning the note for note comparison that would have come with better known tunes. Yet, they respect the spirit of the songs and re-imagine most of them beautifully.
John Legend gives an unexpected and effectual performance retiring the ultra pristine style we’ve gotten used to for something more guttural and passionate. There are times when he sounds a bit unbalanced or out of his scope of ability but it almost lends to the rawness of the songs. Lord knows the old heads love a bit of bobbling notes. That means the auto tune really was dead, at least for this session.
The crew moves from Baby Huey’s dust-covered and long-forgotten funk gem “Hard Times,” to the well-known “Wake Up Everybody” from Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. The group doesn’t paint too far outside of the lines with these songs and while they are enjoyable, they are the least electric of the offerings.
Ernie Hines is represented with “Our Generation” a call for the youth to be the saviors of a morally and socially corrupt system. This track finds the crew really hitting their stride. The performance is marvelous from Legend’s energy to CL Smooth finding himself for a second time rhyming over this track. (Pete Rock sampled “Our Generation” years ago for the Pete Rock/CL Smooth anthem “Straighten It Out.”)
Black Thought gives his second and best performance on Donny Hathaway’s “Little Ghetto Boy.” He’s smooth and thoughtful; he weaves a top notch narrative then hands it over to John Legend who gives his best performance of the album.
The only misstep worth detailing is the bland re-interpretation of “Compared To What.” While Roberta Flack was the first to perform the Eugene McDaniels’ penned Vietnam protest song, Less McCann and Eddie Harris made it famous. It’s possibly the most motivating, unapologetic slice of war anger ever recorded and The Roots and John Legend put it on Prozac. However, this song’s lack of energy is hardly the death knell for such a wonderful compilation.
The beauty of Wake Up! is its ability to deliver the emotion and sound of these songs without over doing homage or amendments. John Legend isn’t Marvin Gaye or Donny Hathaway and he doesn’t pretend to be. He is a more pleasurable and striking version of himself. The Roots have proven a more than capable and talented band that can pull some serious surprises out (check the amazing guitar work on the epic “I Can’t Write Left Handed.”) It’s one of the best cover albums we have been presented with in a long time, and we are presented with more than we should be.
Out of 5
The Roots & John Legend – “Hard Times”
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If these guys today were any good, I would wish for more cover albums. Alas, I do not want anyone ruining the raw soul, funk, and passion of the old school. Cover albums are few and between in today’s world and John Legend and the Roots bring that back in grand style with a real band and real singing. What I like about the album most is that they did not select the most obvious hits to sell a record. They selected songs that felt right for them and their overall goal. This helped retain some originality of the album. It was great and I was thoroughly impressed. One final comment, as a Marvin Gaye enthusiast, my favorite artists, John Legend and the Roots did a marvelous job in remaking that song into a rendition even Marvin himself must be proud off. It had great raw unbridled passion, feeling and emotions that really came across genuine. This was a great album.