Just Like Heaven: A Tribute to the Cure

These tribute albums have become so ubiquitous and are so generally asinine that this one comes as a genuine, and at times quite moving, surprise. It's not just that the artists who contributed are clearly doing so without any of the usual ironic detachment, but also that many of them have clearly thought very carefully and often very insightfully about their arrangements and interpretations. Elizabeth Harper & the Matinee deliver a sweetly sad and admirably straightforward version of "Pictures of You," one that clears away the layers of gauzy, torpid psychedelia that characterized the (excellent) original version to create a song that has a very different spirit without sacrificing anything of its essence. Cassettes Won't Listen give "Let's Go to Bed" a slightly stiffer, more electro interpretation -- again, one that reveals a depth of regret and bitterness that was better hidden in the original. It should probably come as no surprise that Tanya Donelly would pick the slightly creepy "Love Cats" to cover, in a duet version with the gruffly insinuating Dylan in the Movies. Elk City turn "Close to Me" into a strangely detached disquisition on the obsession and self-disgust that animated the original, while Kitty Karlyle turn "In Between Days" into a brilliantly edgy slab of rough-and-ready pop-punk. Not every interpretation is equally brilliant, but every one of them shines an interesting new light on this powerful material. ~ Rick Anderson