We Will Become A Happy Ending

Page France “Chariot” – I probably should have waited until after the leaves turned to put up this song, but hey, I’m low on postable material (truth is, most of the stuff I’m very excited about at the moment is megapopular – Kanye, Mike Jones, Paul Wall, Missy Elliott, that Fall Out Boy hit), and it’s close enough to the autumn either way. Kids are back in school now, and though I’m well out of school by now, I just moved to a new place and I’m getting the same sort of “it’s a brand new era” feeling that I used to get at the start of fall semesters. It’s a cautious sort of optimism, and this is a cautiously optimistic sort of song. (Click here to pre-order it from Fall Records.)

The String Quartet Tribute To Madonna “Ray Of Light” – As regular readers of this site surely know by now, I have an enduring fascination with string adaptations of pop songs, particularly those released on the Vitamin Records label. As a rule, whenever the session musicians and/or producers attempt to mimic a studio effect from the original recording, it normally results in something quite awful that distracts from the appeal of a string quartet arrangement and just seems lame and pointless. A good case in point would be the version of “Undone (The Sweater Song)” from Vitamin’s Weezer tribute – some pointless overdrive distortion is added as it hits the chorus, and the whole thing derails, not just because the effect sounds corny, but because every other “hit the fuzz pedal” moment on most every other string tribute they’ve made (including the Weezer one!) does not bother to be so pedantic and obvious.

This adaptation of Madonna’s “Ray Of Light” is the one exception that I’ve encountered to date. The approximation of the vaguely psychedelic electronic effects from the original end up sounding a thousand times stranger in this context, as the tones flutter, oscillate, clang, and warp in the red in a way that seems very fresh to my ears, especially as it contrasts with the straight playing on the main melodic motifs. I’d love to see some smart band run with some of the ideas presented in this arrangement. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)