to eleven

John Vanderslice – John Vanderslice Plays Diamond Dogs. Self-released, 2013.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I put some money towards John Vanderslice’s Kickstarter campaign for his upcoming album, Dagger Beach. One of the rewards I got was a digital copy of his upcoming, limited-edition John Vanderslice Plays Diamond Dogs, a track-by-track cover of Bowie’s 1974 album.

First of all, I know it’s kind of weird to review an album that was a Kickstarter reward. I don’t believe it’s getting an official release date. There were only 500 copies of the LP printed for this promotion, but Vanderslice still seems to have some left, so I imagine this will show up at his shows, and possibly on his website later, so I think it’s worthwhile to talk about it.

What Vanderslice has done on John Vanderslice Plays Diamond Dogs is re-imagine the entire album. When I say this, I don’t mean that he has taken the songs out of context, changed their tunes and words and what-have-you. In this regard, his album is very faithful to the original. However, Vanderslice has added his pop sensibilities to Bowie’s rock masterpiece.

Are any of these tracks going to replace the originals in my mind as the definitive versions of the songs? No, but I don’t think that’s what Vanderslice is going for, either. He explains on the Kickstarter page that this album was recorded in five days. While it certainly doesn’t sound rushed at all, it still seems more of an exercise in the urgency of recording on a time-budget, rather than and intense exploration and re-interpretation of a classic.

If you’re familiar with JV’s work, you can probably imagine what John Vanderslice Plays Diamond Dogs sounds like: It’s kind of mellow, with lots of guitar and synth. The production is an instrument here, as always with Vanderslice. The man knows exactly what sounds to push to the back and which ones to bring forward at exactly the right time. In fact, he’s one of the few artists whose production is obvious but not irritating. I tend to like my music unpolished, but Vanderslice never gets in his own way. Even his bleeps and bloops sound natural.

The highlights on the album are most likely so because they were the highlights of Bowie’s original, but Vanderslice’s lazy cover of Diamond Dogs, called “Diamanthunde,” manages to be as fun, if not as raucous as the original. His cover of “Rebel Rebel,” renamed as “Juvenile Success,” is soft and minimalist, and one of my favorite tracks is the trippy “Jump in the River Holding Hands,” a cover of “Sweet Thing.”

Overall, John Vanderslice’s cover of Bowie isn’t earth-shattering, and it’s definitely not as good as the original, but I don’t think that’s an insult. John Vanderslice has made a worthwhile covers album and makes these songs his own, which is what every artist covering any song should aspire to.

John Vanderslice Plays Diamond Dogs isn’t available in retail outlets, but keep a lookout at his shows and his website to get a copy while he still has them.

-jason