They say that the typical greetings card tells you more about sender of the greeting than it does about those for whom it is intended. Most folks will know what I mean. You choose a card that’s kind of arty or kind of stylish and it’s little more than a demand to be taken seriously by the best part of the thinking world. You send a card that’s a little risqué or dirty or more than a little silly and its evident you want the rest of the world to think you don’t take anything too seriously or that you are not unnecessarily sentimental. And then there are other people who create mixtapes for their friends in much a similar: more often than not there’s a reflection of how you want your friends to see you, rather than an illustration of your preferred tastes. And much could be said of ‘covers’ albums. On the one hand they’re an adequate (if uneven) account of your influences and on they provide a perfect account of all the things you clearly aspire to, but might not always reach. And this is likely to be true of New York’s Jesse Malin – former member of glam rocksters, D Generation and currently confused solo-recording artist – who releases an album of covers.
Whilst previous album, ‘Glitter In The Gutter’ featured everyone from Bruce Springsteen, Josh Homme, Jakob Dylan, and Jesse’s good friend, Ryan Adams, ‘On Your Sleeve’ features the ghosts and vagaries of an even broader expanse of artists: the Ramones (‘Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio’), Rolling Stones (‘Sway’), Paul Simon (‘Me and Julio Down By The School Yard’), ‘The Hold Steady (‘You Can Make Them Like You’), Elton John (‘Harmony’), The Kills (‘Rodeo Town’) and Sam Cooke (‘Wonderful World’).
Of course there are going to be folks who are likely to dismiss the album solely on the grounds that it’s filler material or one man’s attempt to see what’s there’s left at the bottom of the barrel but with the exception of cod-Bon-Jovi workouts like ‘Russian Roulette’ and grossly iconoclastic exercises like Malin’s attempt to redefine Lou Reed’s ‘Walk on The Wild Side’ as a soft-rock classic, it’s a reasonably honest bearing of the artist’s soul.
Yes a covers album is always going to be like taking a year’s sabbatical in someone else’s underpants, but it’s a pleasing application of someone else’s clothing all the same.
As is the case with most greetings cards, perhaps it’s better to accept it in the spirit that it’s given, rather than second-guess its motives.
‘ON YOUR SLEEVE’ RELEASED 7.04.08