 Mandy
Moore
COVERAGE
(Epic)
I know. You’re confused. Yes, this is a Mandy Moore review and no,
this isn’t Seventeen Magazine or YM, for that matter. And as weird
as you feel reading this, I feel even weirder writing it.
But that’s just where the strangeness begins. Mandy’s new album,
Coverage, is a bizarre and random collection of covers by artists
like XTC, Blondie, Elton John, Cat Stevens, the Waterboys, etc.
Moreover, the album is both hyper-produced by Jon Fields, the same
“dude” that brought to you the Andrew WK beer keg experience,
and proudly claims an Evan Dando cameo.
[I’m completely serious]
All this should really culminate into one big Moore mess that sends
purists running to the bathroom vomiting all over their copy of Teen
Beat. And how many wish that this was true, that Mandy had indeed
made a total ass of herself.
But surprise—it’s quite good.
The first song, “Senses Working Overtime,” a pretty odd and
brave song to start off with, has the winning charm of a lost Hanson
session--which is a good thing. That XTC tune even comes complete
(as her website brags) with “modern DJ scratches” (I wasn’t
aware of “ancient DJ scratches”) and wedding cake-layered
harmonies. Then the album makes a seamless transition into the
record's best track; the Waterboys' "Whole of the Moon,"
terrific fodder for a romantic-comedy soundtrack. I can imagine Kate
Beckinsale dancing in the rain looking for her lost love while Mandy
sings in the background "I saw the rain-dirty valley/You saw
brigadoon/I saw the crescent/You saw the whole of the moon!"
In an interview, appropriately enough, in Interview Magazine, Moore
insists she picked the songs all by herself like a big girl. This is
the stuff "people have been getting [her] into recently and
[she] wants to spread it around" sort of like a disease. And
while a majority of her favorites are chart hits by their respective
original artists, a choice like "Mona Lisas & Mad
Hatters" makes it all worthwhile. This Elton John classic is
perhaps one of his most overlooked and, thankfully for Moore, also
not a cover of "Tiny Dancer" (shame on you, Ben Folds!).
Most importantly, though, the implications of this album are
significantly more impressive than the actual music itself and that
boldness should not be overlooked. Moore, while trying to maintain
relevance and growing up in the spotlight, i.e. hitting puberty, is
also trying to bring her audience along with her on the road to
integrity. She is unabashedly saying, hey guys (insert Mandy Moore
Giggle (TM) right about here) there was music before 1997 and it's
pretty damn good. Justin Timberlake has subtly hinted at this idea
with Justified, an album of near-covers (Stevie Wonder? Michael
Jackson? Is that you?) but he never blatantly declared it. And
Timberlake could also never get away with using a xylophone as Moore
does in her treatment of Joe Jackson's "Breaking Us In
Two."
But, one could ask, how does Coverage differ from, say, Britney's
cover of "Satisfaction' or for that matter, Christina's new
image overhaul which is very adult, as in Cinemax-late-night-adult?
Easy. Moore's music is not ugly, for one, and it's also not like
watching a violent New Jersey Turnpike car crash into a pathetic
Tiffany-like obscurity. This is Mandy validating herself to the gods
of Where Are They Now, successfully so. Coverage is a sincere
homage, her way of showing appreciation for a glorious back
catalogue of never-ending pop ingenuity.
Truthfully, Mandy is also much easier to like. To quote a slightly
fey friend of mine, "she is and always will be a treat."
And after listening to this refreshingly guilty pleasure, I couldn't
agree Moore.
----------------
To read more from Arye Dworken, check out his new personal
website www.bringbacksincerity.com
Send your comments to Arye at theadwiz@aol.com;
 Readers
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