Album Review

Gretchen Lieberum – Do You Realize/ Paper Tigers

• 7th Aug 2007

In 1998 Gus Van Sant directed a shot-by-shot remake of the Alfred Hitchcock classic Psycho. Why? This was a pointless homage to one of the greatest horror movies of all time, only reminding us of how brilliant the original was. Similarly, in the realm of music, the cover version is always a difficult area. Often gone about with the sensitivity of a drunken, limbless plastic surgeon, rarely is the cover version ever pulled off without resulting in anything other than a bloody mess and utter contempt for the artist behind it.

Yet despite these facts some people never learn. Take Gretchen Leiberum. She’s got a sweet voice perfect for gentle folk songs. Do You Realize by The Flaming Lips is an equally sweet little number, so while Gretchen does a passable impersonation of a female Wayne Coyne it all seems rather unnecessary. There is nothing to differentiate the two versions, this is a line-by-line, note-by-note remake. Why do it? How about some People = Shit by Slipknot or I Wanna Sex You Up by Colour Me Bad. Test yourself!