Reissue! Re-package! Re-package!
Re-evaluate the songs
Because Hand in Glove – The Smiths Tribute is actually a reissue of a previous release by 24 Hour Service Station, cut down from two discs to one, you won’t be able to find many of the indie bands featured here doing their turn on classic Smiths tunes. Yet, if you missed the first release, this reissue is definitely worth its price for any Smiths fan who wants to revisit those songs in a fresh haunt, an askance glance at what has become so familiar.
However, one new song was added to the re-packaged set—“Hand in Glove” by the Vanilla Swingers. It’s a melancholic haze take on the song, drenched in acoustic guitars and featuring lead singing trade-offs by Miles Jackson and Anne Gilpin. It’s true to form even as they give it their own stamp. It’s a song sung from deep within being claimed by the song, Morrissey, Marr, Rourke, and Joyce.
Elsewhere, though, check out the now nostalgic tracks by artists who may or may not be working under the same names anymore. True Tone lays down resonator guitar for “Paint a Vulgar Picture” with vocals, backbeat, and horns that all seem inspired by the Texas-Mexico border. Vampire Slayers lay down a swing horn version of “What Difference Does It Make?” which on paper sounds terrible but in the end really works—a jazzy tilt to the uncommon brood of Morrissey. Home brings on the psychedelic acoustic guitars and vocals in the style of the Cure. “Frankly Mr. Shankely” bounces on a beat for Questionface—a faux-rap with 80’s pop keys.
Pulse takes on “Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me” and Loomer goes with “The Death of a Disco Dancer,” and both bands let the tracks play out in their grandiose stretch-out-and-wait style. Pulse ups the ante of “Last Night” by letting a saxophone vamp on the tune. Then there’s the Just Jack-like rap-singing of “Handsome Devil” by I Buried Paul with a drum machine beat and sampling.
Finally, I really like the beat laid down by Q-Burns Abstract Message for an instrumental, electronic version of “Reel Around the Fountain,” complete with sweeping keys and crunchy fills.
24 Hour Service Station (Label)
Vanilla Swingers
Home (band)
Questionface
